


911 - You are my Emergency

by Idzzdi



Category: One Direction (Band), Radio 1 RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Hospital, Closeted Character, Coming Out, Friendship/Love, Hospitals, Love at First Sight, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-03
Updated: 2013-06-09
Packaged: 2017-12-07 09:26:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 37,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/746925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Idzzdi/pseuds/Idzzdi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Grey’s Anatomy inspired love/drama story - General surgeon Harry has just finished his Foundation Year and transferred to another hospital in London. There he meets colleagues and new friends, patients and a man who steals his heart the first time they meet.</p><p>Or: The one that’s just like How I Met Your Mother or any other sitcom, only in a huge white house where there’s a lot of beds and everyone is gay.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I have no medical degree and thus no idea what I’m talking about here. Injuries, diagnoses and labels are taken from Grey’s Anatomy and the Internet.

Quiet giggling was what woke Harry on Monday morning.

“Do you really wanna be late on your first day of work already?” Gemma questioned with another laugh as she casually leaned against the door frame. Harry stirred in his sleep, slowly opening his eyes and turning over to look at her. The look in her eyes was amused and sort of fond as she started approaching him.

“What time's it?” Harry questioned slightly confused.

“Almost seven.” Gemma replied and Harry cursed under his breath, throwing the blanket off his body as he slid out of his bed, stumbling towards the door of his bathroom. He yanked his boxers down as soon as he stumbled through the door and jumped into the shower, shuddering at first at the coldness of the water. He showered and shaved quickly, trying to look his best even with the little amount of time given. He couldn't be late. Not today.

Today Harry was staring his new job at London Bridge Hospital. He had just finished his Foundation Year in a smaller hospital in his hometown and was now looking for a place where he could extend his knowledge and practice more on his own. London Bridge Hospital had been his first choice and after a horribly gone wrong job interview with the chief of surgery there he hadn't had a lot of hope of getting into their program.

But the acceptance letter had come in and his mum and step dad had been out of their minds, showering Harry in gifts of pride and affection before he had left. He had moved to London almost three weeks ago into a flat he shared with his flatmate Gemma. She had lived in London before but had stopped working to go to university again and thus was happy to share the rent now.

Harry had liked Gemma from the start, she was a fun and quirky girl, taking Harry out with her and showing him around, introducing him to her friends. She was like his big sister and they had been friendly around each other, pretty comfortable until one morning Harry walked in on her naked in her bathroom. He had only been looking for a fresh towel, but Gemma shriek loudly, throwing her toothbrush at him in shock.

Harry had stood outside the closed bathroom door, toothpaste sticking to his naked chest, a deep flush on his face. He knocked again quietly and waited as he heard Gemma shuffled around in the room. When she opened the door she was wrapped into a towel herself, awkwardly accepting the toothbrush Harry held in his hand.

Harry had only glanced down at his feet, shuffling to the side awkwardly and deciding that right then was a good moment to tell Gemma that there was nothing to worry about, since he was gay anyways. Gemma had laughed at first, telling him that she was fine with that, relieved even a bit and ever since then they were more comfortable around each other than ever, dressed or not.

And so Gemma glanced at Harry with boredom in her eyes as he came sprinting out of the bathroom with nothing on as he yanked open his drawer and pulled out some boxers and a fresh shirt, doing up the buttons as he looked for some pants to wear. Gemma tossed his some dark jeans and Harry only nodded thankfully, stuffing his shirt into the pants before doing them up as well.

Grabbing his bag and running down the hall towards the kitchen Harry was accompanied by his roommate who was still only nipping on her cup of tea, chuckling over Harry's haste.

“Why are you up anyways?” Harry wondered out loud as he made tea for himself and filled his bowl of cereal with milk. Gemma blinked at him.

“Uni? I get up at seven every morning. Which you would know if you hadn't been a lazy ass for the entire time since you moved in.” She snapped, but grinned at Harry who only made a face at her, eating his breakfast quickly.

“When do you need to be there?” Gemma asked, glancing at the clock hanging over the sink.

“Eight.” Harry mumbled back, putting his half eaten cereal away and filling his tea into a to-go mug. “But I don't know about the traffic and I don't know where I need to go exactly so I wanted to get there in advance.” He glanced at the clock himself only to see that he probably wouldn't manage to get there in advance anymore.

“Don't sweat it.” Was all Gemma said as she followed him back down hallway where Harry grabbed his jacket and bag, making his way to the front door. “You'll be amazing. Have fun.” She smiled encouragingly and Harry appreciated it, giving her a quick nod before he sped out the door, taking two steps at a time as he made his way to his car.

The ride was shorter than Harry had thought and he was ten minutes early by the time he pulled into the hospital's parking lot. As he entered the building he was still seven minutes early, asking for directions to go see his new boss. The lady at the desk showed him the elevators and told him to go to the third floor and ask the nurses for help there.  
Harry thanked the lady and was up on the third floor two short minutes later. Right, now he only had to find the correct office. He felt a little lost as he slowly stepped away from the elevator, his bag slung over his shoulder.

Harry carefully stepped forwards until he stopped near a table that look similar to the one down in the entrance hall. A young man was sitting on a swivel chair filling out a patient's chart. He didn't look up when Harry stepped closer and so he cleared his throat awkwardly, trying to grab the man's attention. When the man did look up, he raised his hand along with his face to push his fringe to the side before glancing at Harry.

“Yeah?” He asked, sounding thrown off from his work.

“I'm, erm, looking for chief Cowell.” Harry said, though it sounded more like a question. The man glanced at him curiously.

“Are you..” He glanced down shuffling through some papers before he looked up again. “Harry Styles?” He read out and Harry nodded.

“Yes, sir.” He replied, feeling stupid. Harry glanced at the man's name tag. It read 'Louis Tomlinson'. “Dr. Tomlinson, I mean.” He added quickly and, wow, this only made him feel more stupid. The man – Dr. Tomlinson – only gave him a small smile though, not commenting on his slightly awkward behavior and giving him directions to the chief's office without any more questions.

Harry was glad to get away from the doctor, feeling like a weight had been lifted off his chest as he round the corner of the hallway and was out of sight from the desk. He sped up his steps, shaking off any odd feeling and looking out for a room labeled as the chief's office.

He was only two minutes late when he finally found it. Taking a last deep breath Harry leaned forwards and knocked gently on the wooden door. He waited patiently before he heard muffled “Come in.” and opened the door.

Chief Cowell's office was well lit and tastefully furnished, much unlike the room Harry had been in for his job interview. The large window behind the desk flooded the room with day light and gave Harry a welcoming feeling. He took a hesitating step forwards, pushing the door open even further.

“Chief Cowell?” Harry asked even though he already recognized the man behind the desk. It was the same broad shoulders, the same attentive eyes and the same small smile.

“Yes, come in.” The chief replied, getting up from his chair and walking around the desk to meet Harry half way. “Harry Styles, isn't it?” Harry nodded and reached for the chief's hand to shake it. The chief took his hand, shaking it quickly and then motioning for him to sit as he walked back around the desk towards his own chair as he kept talking.

“Good to have you here, boy. Did you find everything alright?” He didn't really wait for Harry to answer the question. “Well, welcome to your first day at work. I think we went over most of the important things during your interview, didn't we?” Again, not really a pause, but Harry nodded anyways. “I'll show you around in the hospital a bit and in the areas that will be of special interest for you. Then we'll get you a locker and your scrubs and white coat, sound good?”

Before Harry could nod or say anything the chief was out of his seat again, leading the way towards the door and Harry followed, his bag slung over his shoulder again as he trotted along. They walked past the table in the front of the ward again and chief Cowell motioned towards it, telling him that it was the nurses' desk and that that was the place he could usually find one of them, even if the place was unoccupied at the moment.

“Yeah, I met a doctor here earlier.” Harry told him absentmindedly and the chief nodded, telling him that the doctors usually used the desks there to fill out formulas or update the charts. Harry nodded it off, following the man as he let him into the elevators and down onto the first floor.

The chief showed Harry around for almost an hour. They went to the lunch hall where even now some doctors were assembled, sipping coffee and talking while they sat together and talked. Then they went an checked in with almost every ward the hospital had and Harry was impressed with the size of the building and the amount of employees and patients yet again. London Bridge Hospital was almost five times as big as the hospital he had worked at before.

They finished off their tour in the back of the ward on the third floor. There were locker rooms there and large shelves with hospital clothes. The chief showed Harry which color he was supposed to wear as a fellow – dark blue – as opposed to the Junior House Officers – light blue – who were still in their first year of their medical education and the nurses – green. The same applied to the white coats where each different department had a different design or cut. Harry tried to memorize all the things chief Cowell told him, though he couldn't help but wonder why there even were all these different clothes. In his old hospital back in Holms Chapel there had been one color of scrubs – a really nasty dark red, that constantly reminded him of the color of blood – and one model of white coats that all the doctors and nurses wore alike. But he wasn't going to question things like these on his first day of work and only grabbed the clothes he was supposed to wear as he followed the chief to the end of the room.

Harry was handed some more utensils like his own stethoscope and pager, a sanitizer, a notepad, some pens and a little torch. His arms loaded like this the chief send him off to go get changed and find one of the nurses afterwards to get instructions on what to do. Harry nodded again, like he had so many times before that day, and watched as the chief walked away, trying to recall how exactly he got to the locker rooms again.

Five minutes later Harry bolted through the correct door and found an empty but definitely frequently used room ahead of him. The air was thick not exactly the best, but well it was a locker room so what was he expecting? Harry pushed past the first two rows of lockers that seemed pretty much all occupied and found several empty ones further to the back of the room. He picked one on the far end of the row and yanked the door open as he let the articles in his arms drop to the bench below.

He took a few moments to grab the things he would need for the day from the pockets of his jeans and then pulled them off, pulling on the scrubs pants only a moment later. He had always hated that those pants never had pockets and let out a frustrated sigh as he realized this once again. And so he quickly pulled on the scrubs shirt and then the white coat before stuffing it's pockets with his phone, some gum, the notepad and the pens. He clipped the pager on the hem of his pants, hung the stethoscope around his neck and took a deep breath. 

Feeling like a real doctor was amazing.


	2. Chapter One

Enjoying the whole doctorish feeling Harry left the locker room again, strolling down the hallway back towards the front desk to find one of the nurses to give him instructions. However when he got there the only person sitting behind the desk was the doctor he had met before. What was his name.. Tom-something?

To his confusion Harry noted that he wasn’t wearing the same scrubs as Harry and for short moment he feared he had put on the wrong clothes, but these were definitely the scrubs and white coat chief Cowell had given to him. And so he shrugged the odd feeling off as he reached the desk, the young man looking up at him in annoyance once again. He recognized him though and a light smile appeared on the man’s face as he flipped the chart he had been working on over and got up.

“You’re looking a lot more like a doctor now.” He said. Harry didn’t know whether that was supposed to be a compliment or not so he just shrugged again, thinking back to the reason he had come here in the first place.

“The chief told me to come here and ask one of the nurses what I should do.” He said and expected the doctor to call one of the nurses for him, though instead he fell back into his chair and scooted along the long desk to find a folder, flipping the pages over.

“Yeah, let’s see.” He said, fiddling with the papers, his brows furrowing in concentration. “Here you go.” He handed Harry a piece of paper. “It’s your shift schedule. We keep one for each fellow around here, but this is your own. You can keep it, new ones are out each month you can get them here as well. If you have questions you can ask anyone around here.”

Harry smiled mildly at the man before letting his eyes travel down towards the shift plan. Words and numbers were written all over it in a mess that looked terribly confusing.

“How do you..?” Harry asked carefully, but the man only grinned back, snatching the sheet away from him.

“I know it might look confusing at first, but you’ll get the hand of it.” He grinned up at Harry and then at the paper again. “You’re covering the pit today. Oh and for the rest of the week as well.”

“The.. pit?”

“The ER. We like to call it the pit.”

“Oh.” Harry nodded, wondering if maybe that was a little cruel but didn’t say anything. Apparently things were done a lot differently in hospitals in London than they were done in Holms Chapel.

“It’s down the elevator and then-”

“I know.” Harry cut him off with a friendly nod. The chief had shown him the emergency room earlier during their tour and Harry liked to feel like he at least knew something.

“Okay.” The man smiled back, handing Harry his shift schedule back and sitting back down. “Dr. Styles.” He said with a polite nod and Harry smiled back.

“Dr. Tomlinson.” He said with one more glance at his name tag before he turned to make his way back to the elevators and down to find ‘the pit’.

~

The ‘pit’ turned out to be nothing like a pit at all. Harry had seen it during the tour, yes, and it had seemed a little chaotic, yes, but now that he was back in the long and open room again he decided that ‘pit’ was the most unfitting nickname they could have chosen. But yet again, he didn’t want to start a fight on the first day at his new job and so he pushed all thoughts about the weird nickname to the back of his head and walked up to a nurse who was sorting charts.

“Hey, erm, sorry to interrupt, but I’m new here and I was sent to come work down here, so..” Harry started, his voice trailing off as the nurse spun around to grin at him. She was older than him, definitely, but not all that old, smiling at him warmly like his mother would.

“Your first year?” She asked, eying his white coat and furrowing her brows a bit.

“Erm, no. Just transferred here. Harry Styles, general surgeon.” He held his hand out to her and she smiled.

“Oh right. The chief said he was hiring a few new people to help out. Nice to meet you, I’m Lou Teasdale the wand nurse here. Did you find everything alright?”

Obviously., Harry thought, but he didn’t say anything, because the woman was nice and again he didn’t want to start anything on his first day.

“Yes, thank you.” He said instead and smiled yet again.

“Alright, guess you can start right off then.” She handed him a chart. “Bed three.”

Harry looked down at the chart in his hand going over the few things scribbled on there quickly. Luckily congress had passed a law a couple of years a go that required all hospitals to use the same layout of charts in the emergency room, in case patients needed to be transferred. And so as he glanced down at the chart he was familiar with the way information were arranged on there and thus had more trouble finding his patient then finding out what was wrong with him.

As Lou saw him not moving she pointed to the numbers across the beds and Harry felt a little stupid for not realizing that the beds had all been assigned numbers written in large letter across each one. He thanked the nurse though, grabbed a pen from his coat and then made his way over to the bed where a dark haired patient was awaiting him.

“Hello there.” Harry said, trying to sound as supportive as possible. He himself had never been in the ER as a patient before, but he imagined it to be plenty stressful when you were not only worried about your own health, but also had to watch people being reanimated in the bed next to you. Luckily this patient was far from dying, but Harry went with his little rule no matter what.

“I’m Dr. Styles and I’m gonna be taking care of you today.” He finished before glancing up at his patient. The man had dark skin and hair, his big brown eyes looking utterly bored.

“Are you a waitress or what?” He asked, shifting a little and whining in pain as he repositioned himself. Harry ignored the comment and covered up a roll of his eyes by glancing back down at the chart.

“Alright.” He began. “You’re Zayn?” The boy nodded. “Do you have a last name, Zayn?”

“Malik.” He replied and Harry scribbled down the name, along with the age and the boy’s address.

“So, Zayn.” Harry prompted after he was done noting down the formalities. “Would you mind telling me what happened to your arm?” He asked as he set down the chart and moved up the bed to pull the towel that was covering the wounds off the boy’s right arm. His entire arm was red from blood and scrapes and it just looked plain nasty as Harry pulled on some gloves and started inspecting the injured skin.

“Fell.” Zayn said, looking away as Harry moved his hands up and down his arm.

“You fell?” Harry asked incredulously as he pulled a piece of glass out of his arm with a tong. He then proceeded to remove more glass and little stones from the wounds, pouring sanitizer on top by the liter. “Fell off of what?”

Zayn kept quiet for a while, humming in pain as Harry put more sanitizer on the skin. “Skateboard.” The boy finally mumbled and Harry nodded. “Into a glass door.” Okay, that made sense. However, sometimes Harry had a really hard time not telling his patients how completely and ridiculously stupid they were acting.

“Okay, Zayn.” Harry concluded after a while, looking down at the cleaned wounds. “I could stitch you up myself, but since I suppose you want your tattoos to look somewhat normal afterwards I’m gonna have somebody from the plastics department come up to do that, alright?” Zayn nodded. “Also, I’d like to have an orthopedist look at your shoulder, just to make sure you didn’t fracture anything and your ribs are alright.” The boy nodded again and Harry got up from the little stool he had been sitting on. He grabbed the chart and started scribbling down notes on what he had done and then turned to the nurses’ desk.

A young looking woman was sitting behind the desk, taking Zayn’s chart with a polite smile and telling Harry she’d call for a plastics- and ortho-consult for him. Harry thanked her and was about to grab the next chart, looking out for his next patient as one of the other nurses got off the phone, raising her voice as she spoke.

“We have a car accident two minutes out! Two passengers, the severeness of their injuries unclear.”

“I’ll take one.” Harry said right away, a middle aged doctor stepping up and claiming the other. They gave each other sympathetic smiles and Harry was relieve to see that just like in his old hospital you were allowed to claim and fight for patients here. After all a car accident was a lot more promising and educating than treating the same fell-off-a-skateboard-scrape-wounds all day long.

When the doors of the ER opened and the paramedics came rushing in with two stretchers by their side Harry and the other doctor rushed forwards. Harry took the stretcher closer to them, looking down at the patient quickly before accepting the chart from the paramedic to his right who was almost yelling the most important information at him.

“Seventeen year old female. She was in the passenger seat of the car when it crashed into the tree. She’s respondent, her vitals are mostly stable, she’s been given morphine and fluids to counteract evidence of a panic attack earlier.” The man said, pushing the stretcher alongside Harry as they walked and found a free room for a bed. Harry asked a few quick questions, scribbling everything down onto the chart before he looked up, wanting to thank the paramedic before he got down to work.

The face he looked up to was for Harry’s lack of words just plain beautiful. Bright blue eyes were sparkling up at him and a tired, but somehow relaxed smile grinned up at Harry as he simply starred at the man, trying to take his whole appearance in. His hair was blond with dark roots, sticking messily to the sides but it looked like it had been styled earlier this day, probably ruined in the rush of saving a life. And oh yeah, Harry remembered somebody was dying in the bed in front of him.

“Thanks.” He muttered, tearing his eyes off the perfection of a face in front of him and started talking to the girl in the bed quickly, before he could glance at the paramedic again that touched his shoulder lightly before he exited quietly.

As soon as he was gone, Harry focused for real again back on his work and gave instructions to the nurse next to him as she gave the medication Harry named to the girl on the stretcher. It didn’t take him long to get her stabilized and ready to go up to the radiology floor where she would get a scan of her chest, just to rule out any injuries in the chest area.

When Harry turned and scanned the ER he realized that both the paramedics were gone already. In a way he was relieved that he didn’t have to force himself from not looking at the man again, but it was also disappointing that someone utterly beautiful like that man was now out of Harry’s life probably forever.

With a sigh he turned around, almost running into a tall doctor who had been approaching him.

“Dr. Styles?” The man asked, holding his hand out for him. He was quite a bit taller than Harry, even though Harry himself wasn’t all that short. But maybe he also looked so tall, with his hair styled up in a quiff and the crooked smile plastered across his ridiculously symmetrical face.

“Yes.” Harry replied, taking the man’s hand slightly confused.

“Dr. Grimshaw, I’m your plastics consult.” Nor surprise there, look at that man’s face! “You can call me Nick.” Great, he was nice too.

“Harry.” The younger boy introduced himself and then went to fetch Zayn’s chart from the nurses’ desk.

“Bed three.” Harry said as he started walking again, Nick following close behind. “A young man who thought it’d be a great idea to skate through a glass door.”

“Sounds genius to me.” Nick said dryly with a grin towards Harry as he took the chart from him and approached Zayn himself. Harry followed and watched for a while as Nick stitched Zayn back together, his fingers working quickly and with such skill that Harry could to nothing but stare in awe.

“Thanks.” Zayn mumbled rather grumpily after Nick had finished. The plastics surgeon excused himself and left Harry to fill out the chart for him.

“Can I go now?” Zayn wanted to know, trying to push himself off the bed on his healthy arm.

“Eh eh.” Harry shook his head and softly pushed Zayn back into the bed where he let out an exhausted and maybe a little annoyed sigh. “I told you I wanted some orthopedist taking a look at your shoulder.”

“My shoulder is fine, just let me-”

“Shush. Or I’ll keep you overnight.” And that effectively shut Zayn up. The boy muttered incoherent things under his breath and Harry had to keep himself from laughing as he signed the chart and walked over back to the nurses’ desk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is still very much appreciated. xx


	3. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little bit Liam's POV.

“Dr. Payne?“ Liam spun around when he heard his name being called.

“What?” He snapped back, immediately feeling bad for being so harsh. The nurse that had called him glanced up at him with big eyes, confused with the harsh words thrown at her.

“Bad day?” She mumbled, taking the chart from his hand and putting it away with the others. Liam didn’t reply but she went on, like she hadn’t noticed. “Your friend called again and wondered how much longer you’d be.”

Liam sighed, taking a look at the clock hanging on the wall. His shift ended over half an hour ago, but somehow every patient seemed to take longer today and he still needed to get down the ER for a consult he had been called in for earlier that day.

“Tell him one more consult. I’ll meet him in the pit.” He said to the nurse, smiled at her quickly and then made his way down the stairs to the emergency room. He had taken the stairs many times before but never had he felt as frustrated as today. He didn’t even know why, but the day just kept getting worse and worse and somehow there was nothing to brighten it even a tad bit. Except looking forwards to getting drinks with his friend afterwards. But that was still one consult away and in order to get it over with quickly Liam wasted no time finding Lou once he stumbled into the brightly lit ER.

“Lou?” He asked as he stepped forwards to the desk she was sitting at. The woman looked up and gave him a smile.

“Ah, Hi Liam. Here for the ortho consult?”

“Yes, sorry it took so long.”

“Don’t apologize to me.” She said handing him the chart. “Apologize to the patient. He’s a right moody one, has been complaining all day about wanting to leave.”

“Great.” Liam groaned as he flipped the chart open and started to read over the notes the doctor before him had left. He didn’t recognize the handwriting and wondered for a short moment if the chief had finally employed some new people to help them out around here, but was distracted when he a loud voice coming from the bed he was heading at.

“I’ve been here all fucking day! Really I can’t be all that sick if your oh so busy doctor can’t even get his arse over here.” The man complained, but shut up when he spotted Liam. The nurse he had been yelling at let out a sigh of relief and left quickly. Liam smiled at the man in the bed and enjoyed the moment of silence, expecting him to start ranting only a moment later again.

“Hi.” Liam started after a while, while the man still kept silent. “I’m the oh so busy doctor, and I’m sorry for your wait.” The man didn’t say anything and Liam started to wonder what was wrong with him now, but he glanced down at the chart and tried to ignore the way those dark brown eyes kept staring at him, watching his every move.

“So, erm, Mr. Malik you-”

“Zayn.” The man replied for the first time and Liam looked up at him in wonder. “I-I mean, Zayn. You can call me Zayn.”

Liam smiled at that and started again. “Okay, Zayn. Do you have any pain from your fall. Except from the obvious pain in your arm.” Zayn shook his head. “Trouble breathing?” He hesitated but then shook his head. “Are you sure?”

“Well.. It feels like my chest is really heavy. It’s exhausting to breath when I’m lying down.” The dark haired boy explained and Liam raised his eyebrows, slightly alarmed.

“Okay.” He said, scooting closer to the bed. “Can you lift your shirt for me?” No matter how professional he sounded some patients tended to take the question the wrong way and from the way Zayn was gaping at him now Liam knew he had too. “I wanna check your lungs.” He explained motioning towards the stethoscope around his neck.

“Oh.” The man across from him blushed such a deep shade of red that Liam could see it even through his tanned skin. Liam smiled at him warmly, trying to make the situation less awkward as Zayn pulled his shirt up with his healthy hand.

“This might be a little cold.” Liam said before putting the stethoscope on and letting in roam over Zayn’s chest. His skin didn’t feel all that warm against Liam’s hands so he figured they shouldn’t feel as cold to him, but he shivered anyways, goosebumps appearing on his skin. But Liam ignored Zayn’s skin and focused on the sounds coming through the stethoscope. His breathing was quick and unsteady and Liam wondered what had him so thrown off.

“You can relax.” He said smiling up at Zayn quickly as he moved his hand to his right lung, the side that he had fallen on. The sound changed and became a bit more rattling and louder.

Liam asked Zayn to sit up, so he could check the back of his lungs as well and Zayn obliged, shuddering again when Liam let his hand rest against his lower back to steady him. A weird hiccuping sound escaped the man’s lips and Liam smiled quietly to himself as he switched from left to tight lung again.

“What- What’s your name?” He heard Zayn ask, his head turned away from Liam.

“Dr. Payne.” He told him, scolding himself inwardly as he remembered he hadn’t introduced himself. How rude of him.

“No, I- you first name.”

Oh.

Liam pulled the stethoscope off Zayn’s back and pushed his shirt down, letting him rest back into the pillows. The question felt kind of odd to him, but he had patients asking for his first name every now and then, especially when they were alone in the hospital.

“It’s Liam.” He said with a warm smile, taking a step back from the bed as Zayn lowered his eyes onto his own fingers. “Do you want me to raise the back rest for you? So you can breath more easily?”

Zayn nodded. “Please.”

Liam smiled and raised the back rest for him before he pulled up a stool and sat down onto it, pulling the chart up with him.

“Alright, Zayn.” The boy looked up at him, his eyes curious. “Your left lung sounds just fine, but I’m a little worried about the right one. It could be punctured from taking the hit when you fell and I just want to check up on that, alright?” Zayn didn’t say anything. “I’ll have to keep you here over night, but I’ll schedule an ultrasound and x-ray scan for you first thing in the morning.” Zayn still didn’t say anything and only let out a frustrated sigh.

“Smile. You’re not going to die.” Liam said as he got up. Zayn looked up at him, his face still unfazed. “Not yet at least.” Liam couldn’t help but add and Zayn cracked a smile at that. Liam grabbed the chart and pushed the stool aside, nodding towards Zayn as he walked toward the nurses’ desk. When he got there he threw the chart onto the desk and let out a sigh.

“Home time!” He exclaimed and Lou shot him s smile.

“Lucky you. Well enjoy your beer.” She glanced to the side where his friend was standing impatiently, his hands stuffed into his pockets. “Did you survive our grumpy patient?”

“He wasn’t grumpy at all to me.” He said with a shrug. “Didn’t talk much actually.” Lou cocked an eyebrow at that but didn’t say anything. “He needs to stay though, can you get him a room? Oh and he needs an ultrasound and x-ray tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir.” Lou replied with a mock smile and then ushered him out telling him she’d take all the information she’d need from the chart. Liam smiled, thanked her and then changed in no time, before he met his friend just outside the emergency room.

“Finally.” The blonde boy complained, starting to walk before Liam had even reached his side.

“Niall.” He whined, jogging to catch up with the boy. “Why didn’t you go without me? I told you I still had that consult.”

“Hmm.” The blonde hummed, throwing the bag with his work clothes into the trunk and then climbed into the car next to Liam. “Because I have something I want to tell you.”

~

“Okay fine, so what’s that mysterious thing you wanted to tell me about?” Liam wanted to know as soon as the bartender had set their drinks down and Niall had paid for the both of them. After Niall had made the announcement that he had something important to tell Liam he had gotten oddly mysterious about it, refusing to tell Liam before he had gotten his pint.

“Alright.” Niall began, sipping on his beer and glancing towards Liam. “I realized something very important today.” Liam only looked at his friend with big eyes. What on earth could he have realized on a normal day of work that was worth all this drama? “Not all doctors are jerks.” He stated proudly and Liam groaned in response, rolling his eyes at his friend as the tension left his body. He had expected some big news, something worth waiting for, but his friend was just being a big dork all over again.

“What led you to that conclusion?” He asked anyways, simply to humor Niall. Usually he kept complaining about what ignorant asshole all doctors were, never paying any respect to him and his work as a paramedic. Not Liam of course, he always made a point to point that out, but all other doctors. 100%.

“I brought some kid in today from an accident. The doctor who took her listened to me and he thanked me.”

“He thanked you?” Liam asked with mock impression, pulling his eyebrows high to mess with his friend.

“He indeed did.” Niall replied, ignoring his friends mocking, watching him as he took another swig of his drink. “And he was hot as fuck.” Liam snorted the drink across the bar.

Niall snickered at the shocked expression on his face and the disgusted look the bartender shot them. Padding his back lightly he watched as Liam swallowed hard, looking at him with big eyes.

“London Bridge?” He asked to confirm that they were talking about the same hospital. Niall shrugged with a nod. “Who was it?”

“I don’t know. Didn’t know him.”

“Niall, you know like all the doctors at the hospital.”

Niall shrugged again.

“Well, did you ask for his name?” Liam asked, collecting himself and fixing his posture.

“There kind of was a girl dying right in front of us.” He said nonchalantly and Liam nodded it off, making two girls sitting next to stare in wonder and disbelief.

“She still alive?” Liam asked, but Niall shrugged.

“He looked kinda young to be a real doctor. Maybe he killed her.” And if the girls next to them hadn’t been freaked out before they sure were now. The conversation was one one sure wouldn’t understand if you didn’t know Liam and Niall. But they had always been that way together and it worked. Their friendship was dynamic and basically existed of sharing stories about people dying and sometimes not. And it was good that way.

“Maybe I should come see if she’s still alive tomorrow.”

“Maybe you should stop drooling over my colleagues and do some actual work instead. Lazy paramedic.”

“Like I said.” Niall replied with a huff and Liam looked up in confusion.

“What?”

A faint smiled played around Niall’s lips as he raised his bottle for another swig.“All doctors are jerks.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a quick comment and I'll love you forever! xx


	4. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be sure to always remember to leave a comment when you have suggestions for the story. I have an idea of what I want to happen, but I'm always open for your ideas! xx

The next day Harry managed to actually get into work in time to change and get ready and still have five minutes left before the start of his shift. And so he left the locker room, shuffled down the ward and passed the front desk, waving at the man sitting there.

“Dr. Styles.” The young man greeted politely and Harry smiled at him.

“Dr. Tomlinson. Having a good morning?”

“Yes, thank you.” He grinned back, secret amusement dancing in his eyes. Harry wondered what had the man so happy today and thinking about the perks of being a doctor in London Bridge Hospital he hadn’t discovered yet he made his way to the emergency room, to find Lou, the ward nurse, to get his first patient of the day.

Unfortunately as soon as he reached the ER he had to find that the first patient on his list was that moody boy from yesterday, Zayn, and that he had been moved up onto the same exact ward he had just come from.

Sighing Harry made his way back up to the third floor, fetched the correct chart from the unoccupied nurses’ desk and waltzed into the patient room with a quick knock on the door. Zayn was sitting upright in his bed, looking very unpleased with how his morning had gone do far.

“Good morning.” Harry greeted, looking down at the chart and the notes the orthopedist had left. “Are you feeling better today?”

Zayn only shrugged with a low mumble of incoherent words, but Harry felt free to interpret them as a yes. He wasn’t exactly up for arguing with Zayn, and as long as the moody boy was silent he at least wasn’t snapping at him.

“Your x-ray scan is at 11am.” Harry read from the chart, squinting his eyes trying to read the tiny handwriting. “And the ultrasound.. we’ll just do right now.” Harry stated, because that’s what it said in the chart and so he glanced around the room to find that there indeed was an ultrasound scanner in the room already. Making a mental note to thank the nurses for their work later on, Harry pulled the scanner closer towards the bed and collected a small stool right along with it, sitting down onto it as he flicked the screen on.

Five minutes later the transducer was gliding over Zayn’s chest smoothly, with the ultrasound gel spread across his skin. Harry worked mostly in silence and Zayn only watched him, looking up at the screen every now and then when Harry explained to him the one or other detail.

When Harry had finished and cleaned off Zayn’s chest, stowing away the scanner to the back of the room, he moved around the bed collecting the chart from a table near by. Just as he made a move to leave the room, to go fill out the chart at the front desk, Zayn spoke up, making Harry turn around in the door way.

“For the x-ray scan..” The boy began and Harry stepped back into the room a bit, ready to answer any question about the process and ease any fears the boy might have. Zayn fiddled with his own fingers, staring down at them and taking a deep breath. “Is it.. going to be you or..?”

“Am I doing the scan? Oh, no.”

“No I mean.. Are you taking me to the scan?”

“Oh.” Harry furrowed his eyebrows at that. “I suppose one of the nurses will take you, so..”

“Oh.” Zayn nodded, lacing his fingers, still not looking up at the doctor. “So..” There was a long pause. “Is Dr. Payne not coming back, or..?”

Oh. Harry wasn’t expecting that question either. Luckily he had read the name in the chart only moments ago, otherwise he probably wouldn’t have known what doctor Zayn had been talking about.

“I actually don’t think you’re gonna need another orthopedic consult, Zayn.” The boy in the bed really didn’t look happy about that fact.

“I- Well.. Could you ask him something? For me?”

“Yeah, sure.” Harry said, stepping even closer towards the bed. Whatever Zayn wanted to know, Harry was pretty sure he could answer that question too. He was no orthopedist, but Zayn had no medical education so whatever question he might have about his injuries, Harry was pretty sure he could help him out, without asking Dr. Payne for help.

What Harry didn’t know was that Zayn’s question had nothing to do with his injuries, or medicine in general.

“Could you ask him if he’s.. gay?” The boy asked hesitatingly and Harry had to use all his willpower not to choke or faint or scream in shock.

“I, er- Zayn, he’s my- my colleague. I can’t just ask him if he’s gay.” He tried to reason, but Zayn looked sort of determined and it scared Harry. He had only worked there for and not even a day a half, so he really, really didn’t want the orthopedic specialist to hate him just yet. “Why would you wanna know anyways?”

Just a moment later Harry realized that his question really wasn’t the smartest, but the look Zayn threw him let him know that he should have known the answer to that question.

“Well..” The dark haired boy said, blinking his eyes innocently. “Somebody in this room might be gay and might be interested in him.. And I really hope it’s not you.”

Harry laughed dryly, trying to cover up his slight embarrassment. “Not interested in him.” He assured, shifting his weight from one leg to another, his hands wrapping around the chart he was holding tightly.

“But you’re gay.” Zayn stated, with his eyebrows lifted lightly and though it should have been a question, it didn’t sound like one and Harry felt like this was the right moment to end the conversation.

“I’ll see you after your scan.” He said dismissively, waving his hand awkwardly and walking out of the room as he heard Zayn laugh behind him. Making his way back to the front desk, Harry tried to forget about what Zayn had said and focused on what he had seen in Zayn’s ultrasound scan instead. With a sigh he plopped down onto one of the swivel chairs at the nurses’ desk and flipped the chart open, starting to make notes with his mind set to strictly professional thoughts.

And he kept it that way for the next couple of hours. Harry had gone back the emergency room, taking care of the incoming patients, checking back with the girl he had taken care of yesterday already before returning to his work in the ER.

Just after his late lunch break, in the early afternoon Harry got paged, letting him know that Zayn’s x-ray scans were done and so he finished off the stitches he had been doing on a little boy before he went to grab the scans from the lab. When he got there, however, there was a man in line in front of him, demanding Zayn’s scans, and Harry stepped up.

“Sorry, sir.” He said as he followed the man down the hallway, tapping his shoulder. He turned and Harry was surprised to look into a face that look as young as his own. “I think you took the scan’s for my patient. Zayn Malik.” The doctor looked down at the scans, reading the patient’s name and then held his hand out for Harry.

“You must be Dr. Styles.” He concluded out of nowhere, but Harry took his hand anyways, shaking it with light confusion. “I’m Dr. Payne. The orthopedist.” He explained helpfully and Harry nodded.

“Oh yeah, I saw your notes in the chart earlier. I did the ultrasound scan this morning already. Shall we walk together?” Harry suggested and Dr. Payne accepted with a warm smile. While they walked Harry told him about what he had seen in the scan earlier and the doctor listened patiently, nodding every now and then, scratching his chin in thought as Harry had finished.

“Sounds like some bruised ribs and a contused lung to me.” Dr. Payne told him as they entered the correct ward, shuffling down the hallway towards Zayn’s room.

“I considered a broken rib earlier, because he was awfully sensitive on the lower right side of his rib cage. But the bruising isn’t so bad, so hopefully the x-rays will show more.” Harry added and the man by his side only nodded thoughtfully before knocking on the patient’s room door and entering shortly afterwards.

Zayn looked perplex when the two doctors came walking in, pushing himself up in the bed and running a hand through his unruly hair.

“Hello Zayn.” Dr. Payne greeted friendly and pulled up a computer to take a look at the scans. Harry stood a few steps behind him, remembering what the boy had asked him earlier that day and watched with amusement as Zayn grew paler and paler the longer he stared at the young doctor standing by his bedside.

Dr. Payne showed the scans to Harry and then to Zayn and talked to him about it. He explained, that his lungs looked okay, simply a little wrecked from the fall. One of his ribs was slightly broken though and he would need to rest for it to heal. Harry didn’t expect Zayn to he happy to hear about having to stay for any longer in this hospital than absolutely necessary, but with Dr. Payne in the room he didn’t complain.

And so Harry only grinned as the other doctor grabbed the chart and they both made a move to leave the room, but Zayn called them back. To his surprise though Zayn wanted to talk to him and not Dr. Payne. He only shrugged and ensured the other doctor he would be out right away, stepping closer towards Zayn as Dr. Payne left the room.

“Stop looking so smug.” Was the first thing Zayn said as the door was pulled shut. Harry grinned in return. “What did he say then?”

“I haven’t asked yet, Zayn.”

“What? You had an entire day!” He exclaimed, letting his hands fall down next to his body uselessly.

“I met him like ten minutes ago.”

“Ten minutes time to ask him.”

“Ten minutes time we spend talking about how we’re gonna save your life.” Harry reasoned, a small smile playing a round his lips.

“I’m not dying.” Zayn mumbled, pouting away as the doctor only grinned.

“Are you sure?” Harry teased and Zayn rolled his eyes. “Anyways, why don’t you ask him?”

The answer to that question was grumbled into Zayn’s pillow as he blushed and told Harry to leave and “God-damn ask him already!”. Snickering quietly Harry left the room and closed the door, before walking to the nurses’ desk where he found Dr. Payne writing into Zayn’s chart. He stopped and watched, not sure why he wasn’t returning to his actual work. It wasn’t like he actually planned on asking one of his colleagues such a ridiculous question. Not yet at least.

“He’s looking good, right?” Dr. Payne asked and pulled Harry back into reality. Wait, what? The confusion must have been obvious on Harry’s face, because the man across from him blushed lightly as he flipped the chart over. “I mean.. healthy. He looks good, like he’s not gonna die.”

“Oh.” Harry nodded. “Looks great.”

Well, if that wasn’t awkward..

“I’m Liam, by the way.” The doctor said, getting up. “Dr. Payne for the patients, but.. yeah colleagues call me Liam.”

“Alright.” Harry said with a smile. “I’m Harry, then.”

“You’re not a First Year, are you?”

“Oh no.” Harry shook his head lightly. “Just finished it at another hospital and transferred here. General surgeon now.”

“Nice.” Liam nodded, walking around the desk to stand next to him. “So, erm, what are your plans for tonight? I mean.. I don’t mean to be pushy, but a friend of mine are going over to the pub from across the hospital. If you want to, you could join us.”

“Oh, wow.” Harry grinned. “That’d be really nice actually.” It wasn’t like Harry didn’t have any friends in London. Gemma had introduced him to about a million people after he had moved there, but it still would be nice getting to know the people you were actually working with.

“Okay, cool.” Liam’s smile a genuine. “We usually leave at around nine. Is that alright with you?”

“Sure.” Harry replied with a shrug and looked up as Dr. Tomlinson came and approached the desk they were standing at. The doctor smiled at the two men standing together and grabbed a couple of charts from the desk, changing their order in a way Harry didn’t quite understand.

“Hey Louis.” Liam greeted the doctor casually and the man smiled. “Have you met Harry yet?”

“Oh, yeah.” Harry answered quickly. “I believe Dr. Tomlinson and I have met.”

The look Liam shot him was utterly surprised, but mostly amused. A moment later he was laughing loudly, clapping a hand over his mouth in order to stop the loud sounds from escaping his lips. Harry was confused and glanced from Liam to the man behind the desk who only smiled at the two, with the same wicked smile he had worn this morning.

“Dr. Tomlinson?” Liam asked incredulously, still unable to control his giggling as he turned to the man behind the desk. “When did you get your medical degree?”

“Never did.” He replied with a wide and smug grin now. Harry’s eyes grew wide, eying the two men in confusion.

“You’re not a doctor?” He asked, looking right him.

“You told him you were a doctor?” Liam asked with more laughter escaping his lips.

“I never said I was. He simply assumed.” And that was right. He never had specifically introduced himself as Dr. Tomlinson and also he didn’t wear the same scrubs as Liam and Harry did, but.. but if he was no doctor then..

“He’s a nurse.” Liam bubbled out, still laughing as he padded Harry’s back lightly.

“A nurse?” Harry asked with his eyes growing wide and a bright blush creeping onto his cheeks. “I..”

“It’s okay.” He ensured him, though Liam was still laughing his face off by his side. “Just call me Louis. Nurse sounds kind of.. you know.” He tilted his head to the side with a knowing look at Harry who only nodded, because, yeah, he understood but also because, yeah, he was ready to die.

“I.. think I should go.” Harry said, the blush still bright on his cheeks. “Find a cliff to throw myself off of or something.” He smiled weakly at the other two men who only grinned as he walked away. And just before he reached the elevators he heard Liam’s voice call after him.

“I’ll see you later!”

And oh yeah, right. Harry would have to see him all evening long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was the whole Louis is a nurse thing surprising? Because I feel like my stories are too predictable and I tried to out something surprising in there (it’s silly, I know). But did it work?


	5. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, YEY screw school I managed to write the next chapter. Hope it makes sense, hope you like it. xx

Liam went through the rest of his shift as he did every day, taking care of different patients as he flooded through his routine. He didn’t exactly not like it, but it had been a lot more exciting in the beginning and now it was all sort of the same over and over again.

And it was also the same when around 6pm Niall started paging him every five minutes, wondering how much longer Liam had to work that day. It wasn’t like his shifts ended differently each day and Niall knew that very well, he just got bored as soon as his own shift was over and somehow refused to leave the hospital without Liam.

And so when around the usual time his pager started going off a little more often then necessary Liam only rolled his eyes without even glancing down at the little device clipped onto the hem of his pants and continued his work. It wouldn’t help much if he hurried anyways, because today he had offered Harry to come with them, so they’d have to wait for him no matter how early Liam finished.

After he was done with the last patient of the day and went to the locker room to get changed he took the elevator downstairs, trying to find Niall. Halfway down to the first floor Harry got onto the elevator with him. He was still in his scrubs.

“Oh hey!” He said as he stumbled in, pressing the button of the third floor.

“Hey there. You still coming for drinks with us?” Liam asked casually, not wanting to pressure the boy.

“Yeah, sure.” He nodded quickly. “I mean.. If you’ll still have me after I horribly embarrassed myself today.” He chuckled quietly and Liam laughed, patting his shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it. It was fun.” The elevator stopped on the first floor. “I’m gonna go find Niall already. We’re gonna wait by the main entrance, okay?” Liam checked before stepping out of the elevator.

“Okay.” Harry agreed, mock saluting him as the elevators slid shut again and Liam had to suppress a silly giggle as he went to find Niall. The boy in question was lingering in the emergency room, chatting to one of the nurses as Liam arrived. He tapped the blonde boy on the shoulder and Niall spun around, saying bye to the woman quickly before following Liam as he led them through the hospital.

“Earlier than yesterday.” Niall said, sounding only mildly impressed.

“Yeah, erm, we’re gonna have to wait for a bit longer though.” Niall was frowning at him. “I invited a colleague to come, he’s changing just now.” Liam said, trying to sound as cheery as possible to let the good mood rub off onto Niall.

Didn’t really work.

“Great.” Scoffed the Irish lad, looking even less excited than before.

“He’s a nice guy. Really funny, you’re gonna like him.”

“Doubt it.” Niall scoffed and Liam only rolled his eyes, but they both kept quiet after that, finding two chairs on the waiting area. They took seats nest to each other and Liam thought of something to say. He didn’t want Niall to be in a pissy mood when Harry showed up, because then he would definitely make him feel uncomfortable and Liam didn’t want that.

He couldn’t really explain the feeling of wanting to take care of the boy that had just started working at their hospital, but Liam had the tendency to want to make people feel comfortable and welcome. He had done the same with Niall when he had moved to London and they were best friends now, so why couldn’t the same thing work with Harry?

Oh yeah right, because his currently pouting best friend was probably going to be a prick, if Liam didn’t manage to cheer him up before the other boy was done changing. Unfortunately Harry must have hurried, because Liam spotted him approaching the two before he and Niall had spoken another word and so he simply hoped for the best as he slowly got up.

“There he is.” Liam said quietly to Niall, who got up as well, scanning the entrance hall for Liam’s friend. Harry spotted them only a moment later and grinned at Liam before glancing at Niall. Liam thought he saw the boy stop in his tracks, but got distracted, when Niall’s fingers curled into his arm digging deep into the skin.

“Niall, ouch!” Liam exclaimed, trying to free his arm. “What the hell?”

Niall simply looked dazed, his eyes fixed on a distant point, somewhere close to where Harry was standing, but he seemed a little zoned out as his mouth opened and closed uselessly.

“Niall.” Liam hissed again, pushing his elbow in his friend’s side to pull him back into reality as Harry came closer. Liam gave him a warm smile, though the boy looked a little shaken and Liam only prayed that it wasn’t because of Niall’s ridiculous behavior. It wasn’t like Liam hadn’t known that Niall was well aware of how to embarrass him, but not once before had he managed to do it before saying just one word.

Introductions were a little awkward. Harry held out his hand to Niall for him to shake it, but Niall was too distracted by whatever the hell it was that he didn’t move one bit before Liam almost forced him to accept the handshake. Harry looked confused and hurt and Niall looked dazed and embarrassed and Liam could barely imagine this going any worse.

They quietly made it out of the hospital and walked across the parking lot to cross the street and stumble into the small but packed bar, fighting their way through the crowd in an effort to find a table for three. When they had sat down Harry offered to go get drinks and got right away again after shedding off his jacket and left Niall and Liam back at the table.

“What the hell, Niall?” Liam started right away, as soon as Harry was out of hearing range. Niall was only staring. “Give him a chance, mate. You’re just being a dick right from the start. He’s really nice and you’re making him uncomfortable.”

“Liam.” Niall almost whispered and it sounded like he was asking him to stop. Liam looked at his friend in surprise, cocking his eyebrow at him and waiting for an explanation. “He’s.. he’s the guy.”

“I know he’s a guy.” Liam responded with a roll of his eyes, having not heard correctly. “Last time I checked though you were gay, so you shouldn’t be bothered with me bringing along decent guys.”

“No, Liam.” Niall interrupted him, his gaze fixed on Harry’s back as the tall boy leaned across the bar, talking to the bartender. “He’s the guy. The doctor. From yesterday. In the ER.”

~

“Gemma!” Harry almost yelled into his phone as soon as his roommate picked up. He was still waiting on the drinks he had ordered by the bar and made sure to turn to the side slightly so Liam and Niall wouldn’t spot that he was talking on the phone, in case they were looking art him.

“Hey Harry, I-”

“I need you to help me!” Harry chanted right away, interrupting whatever she wanted to say. “You need to come get me. I’m at a bar with Liam and Niall’s with him and I can’t be here with them, please.” He ranted on.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Gemma asked, sounding majorly confused.

“The paramedic, he’s here.”

“Is that the one you told me about yesterday?”

“Gemma.” Harry said sternly, slightly annoyed with her. “I told you about one person yesterday. One person only and you don’t remember him.”

“I remember that he was the highlight of your day and that you shouldn’t be upset if you get to spend time with him.” She said cheerfully, totally not getting Harry’s point.

“No, Gemma. No. I’m not prepared for this and it’s awkward and horrible and I need you to come get me. Now.” He snapped and the people standing by the bar next to him, glanced at him curiously. “Please.” He added and he knew he sounded somewhat pathetic, but when he heard Gemma shuffling from the other end of the line he couldn’t care less.

“Fine. Gimme ten minutes.”

“Five.” Harry told her, but Gemma hung up on him and Harry only sighed in frustration as he paid for the drinks and decided that he couldn’t wait by the bar any longer without it looking suspicious. And so he pulled himself together – mostly – and made his way back to the little table where Liam and Niall were sitting.

“Thanks.” Liam said as Harry slid down the bottles onto the table and pushed one towards each of them. Niall only nodded in response, keeping his eyes on the table and making in painfully obvious that he didn’t want Harry to be there. It was shattering really, but Harry tried to ignore it glancing at Liam instead.

The boy seemed to be watching him with great interest, a little smile playing around his lips and secret amusement flashing through his eyes. The look he gave him was kind of like the one Louis had thrown him when he called him Dr. Tomlinson. Knowing and amused.

“What, am I about to embarrass myself again?” Harry wanted to know, half joking, half seriously concerned with the way Liam looked at him.

“I don’t know.” Liam replied with a smug grin, his eyes landing on Niall before he glanced back and forth between the two. “What do you think, Niall?”

And yeah. It went downhill from there.

~

Liam was aware of the fact that this whole evening was going pretty horrible. And even though he wasn’t the type of person to take pleasure in another person’s pain or discomfort he couldn’t help but be awfully amused as he watched Niall squirm and blush under his comments. He felt bad for Harry though, who still looked like he felt out of place and wanted to leave. To Liam’s surprise and Niall’s dismay Harry was granted his wish a short time later.

About twenty minutes upon arriving at the bar a girl showed up, wrapping her hands around Harry’s shoulders.

“There you are.” She said with a laugh, glancing from Harry to Liam and Niall curiously.

“Gemma!” Harry exclaimed back, a little too cheerful for Liam’s taste, but he didn’t say anything. The girl bent down to Harry’s ear and whispered something into it, before standing back up. Harry paled and then blushed, almost knocking his bottle over when he grabbed for his hat on the table.

“I’m really sorry, but I need to go.” He suddenly said. “You know..” He started, gesturing towards the girl but never finishing the sentence.

“Oh, okay.” Liam said surprised. “I’ll see you tomorrow then, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Harry agreed, pulling on his jacket with a quick glance at Niall. “I’ll, erm, see you around?” Niall only nodded in response, giving a weak and awkward wave as Harry left. When he and the girl were out the door Liam stared at Niall for a long moment, awaiting his friend’s reaction.

“What?” Niall snapped after a while, getting uncomfortable under Liam’s gaze.

“Well.. you handled that pretty horribly.” Liam stated matter-of-factly and even though he felt kind of bad for his friend there was no sugar coating this. It really couldn’t have gone any worse. Niall glared at him, silently letting Liam know that his words were of no help here. “It’s not my fault you didn’t say anything.” Liam tried to defend himself. “I mean.. you could have asked for his number. Or for a date. Or maybe could’ve just said anything, because right now he probably thinks you hate him.”

“So what?” Niall mumbled out effortlessly and his indifference was what worried Liam the most. “He obviously has a girlfriend.. And she’s fucking pretty so..”

Liam rolled his eyes, but thinking back to the girl that had just snatched Harry away from them he realized that, yes, she could be a problem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback would mean the world to me. xx


	6. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YEY I managed to update at least a little sooner. :) Hope you enjoy!

Harry had tried to forget about the more than awkward encounter with Liam and Niall after work. As soon as Gemma and he had left the bar she bubbled over with questions, wanting to know what exactly had happened that caused Harry’s urgent wish to go home right then and there.

“I don’t even know.” Harry complained with annoyance in his voice. It felt awful being with Liam and Niall at the bar, but not being there while he had the chance to felt even worse. And in his unreasonable mood swings and behavior Harry blamed Gemma. Not that he would ever tell her (not that it made any sense) but in his head it was a perfectly reasonable explanation.

When they had gotten back to the flat Harry was still moping around, spreading his bad mood as he waltzed through the different rooms. Gemma only rolled her yes at him mumbling that maybe he should have just stayed at the bar, if going home didn’t lift his mood either.

“I know!” Harry yelled out of nowhere, slamming the door to his room shut and letting his roommate wonder what the hell was wrong with him now. Gemma shrugged it off though, putting it off as the effect from the alcohol he may have had at the bar or maybe his inability to talk to his crush. Normally she would take the piss out of teasing Harry about it all night long, but when she knocked on his door barely thirty minutes later the only response she got were loud snores.

Harry had decided that sleeping the awful encounter off was his best option. And the next morning when he woke fifteen minutes before his alarm clock even rang he silently thanked himself for making that decision (instead of maybe drowning his self pity in alcohol, like he would have done in his college days. Fortunately he already learned back then that it was no fun working a twenty hours shift with a throbbing head, while running to the bathroom every five minutes to get rid of all the fluids he poured into his body in order to make up for the massive dehydration.)

So he was happy and wide awake as he showered and pulled on fresh clothes. Gemma was waiting in the kitchen for him, but he raised his finger in a warning gesture, signaling her that he was not having any banter this morning. Not before work. Not before he would have to face Liam – and possibly even Niall – again.

Great.

But Harry did his best not to let the thought of that ruin his mood as he drove to the hospital. He hurried though as soon as he got to the locker room. A few young First Years were changing and chatting next to him and he gave them a weak smile, trying to hide the fact that he was trying to get out of there as soon as possible again. He wasn’t exactly keen on getting down to work, but he was even less keen on meeting Liam here. Harry didn’t know when Liam’s shift started, but eight o’clock seemed like a reasonable time for an orthopedist to start and as far as Harry knew most doctors around here started around that time. So yeah, Harry wasn’t planning on running into him in a room smaller than his own bedroom with only one exit.

Against all expectations Harry made it out alive, letting out a breath as he made his way down the hallway to find Louis and grab his charts for the morning. They talked for a few minutes and Harry apologized another time or twenty for running of the day before as Louis told him to definitely “Cut it out now!”. And as he stuffed more charts into Harry’s arms he also informed him that his working schedule had changed and that he was no longer working the ER.

“Oh okay.” Harry said, furrowing his eyebrows a tad bit. “Where am I then?”

Louis only cocked an eyebrow at him in return and then glanced at the pile of charts in his arms. Harry followed his gaze and took a moment to understand what Louis was trying to tell him. When he looked back up again Louis was giving him a knowing look.

“I’m here?” Harry asked a little confused, his arms starting to get heavy under the weight of the charts.

“No, you’re the new bookshelf and I just need you to hold those.” Louis said, rolling his eyes and shooing him away soon after, telling him to go take care of the patients.

Not having to work in the emergency room any longer wasn’t all that bad, Harry thought after checking up on the first few patients. It was less hectic up here and anyways, most of the patients he had treated in the ER had been moved up here, so he saw quite a few familiar faces and saved himself the trouble of going back and forth between the emergency room and this ward.

He also saved himself the trouble of trying to avoid seeing Niall. Well, Harry wasn’t exactly trying to avoid seeing him, because he actually was very much trying to do that, he simply tried to avoid being seen by him. Which turned out to be actually kind of hard when he tried to focus on his work at the same time. So in a way he was glad that the decision had been taken from him by moving him up to another ward.

Though of course, things didn’t really work that way in Harry’s life and so just as Harry thought himself safe a short lad with blond hair rushed past him, not giving him a second look, but talking with such an obvious Irish accent that Harry didn’t even need to turn to know that it was Niall who had just waltzed into his ward. His ward, he was here. Harry. Not Niall.

Sighing in defeat and feeling a little ashamed for himself Harry ducked behind a shelf with needles, infusions and whatever stuff one might need at a hospital. Crouching on the floor he flipped open the only chart left in his hand and glanced down at it, still making sure his curls didn’t poke out behind his shelter.

Harry heard Niall talk to Louis, asking him about something, some patient of his and Harry stayed put in his hiding place. Niall was a paramedic, he didn’t have patients, did he? They only brought them in, why would he come check up on them?

Still confused from the entire situation Harry tried to ignore Niall’s and Louis’ voices from the end of the ward as he looked down at the chart again. His last patient was.. oh. Moody Mister Zayn.

Sighing again Harry straightened up a little, carefully peeking over the shelf before he almost ran across the hallway to dart into Zayn’s open door. The boy looked at him incredulously as Harry ran a hand through his hair and pretended to read the chart, though he was only staring at it mindlessly.

“Mate.” Zayn said, his eyebrows furrowed deeply. “You are the weirdest doctor I’ve ever met.”

“What?” Harry asked, trying to act like he hadn’t just run into Zayn’s room.

“You were hiding behind a shelf.”

Oh okay great, so he had seen that as well. Yeah, no, cool. No big deal.

“I was not.” Harry said sternly, drawing a circle on the chart and not looking up from it, acting as if he was making notes and something else that looked important.

“Whatever you say..” Zayn trailed off, a huge smirk on his lips. Harry had a really hard time not looking at him and not turning around to check the hallway for Niall. But he forced himself to work and he was generally pretty good at that so he squinted his eyes a little as he read the chart.

“Well, Zayn.” He started after he had made out what one of the nurses had scribbled down onto it this morning. “Your vitals were stable enough all day. Your lung is fine so far. Basically you just need to rest a lot, get some good sleep and then you’ll be fine in no time.”

“That means..?” Zayn started, something flashing through his eyes that Harry’s couldn’t really put his finger on.

“That means you can go home. Take it easy for the next two weeks, no sports, no physical exhaustion. But after that you should be able to go back to normal.” He said with a wide grin. “You can call somebody to pick you up and I’ll get the release papers ready for you.”

“Okay.” Zayn mumbled and he sounded nowhere near as excited as he should in Harry’s eyes. He had been so upset when he had gotten to the hospital so Harry didn’t understand why he wasn’t doing the Macarena backwards when told that he could leave again. But Harry figured it wasn’t his place to worry about that and so he only told Zayn he’d be back in a little bit and then grabbed the chart again, walking down the hallway to find the nurses’ desk.

When Harry got there he had to find that none of the nurses where around at the moment and he waited for a minute before deciding that he would just do the paper work himself. Usually he could just get a nurse to get the release forms ready for him, but he was done with the patients for the day already and he figured that if he finished early he would only be sent to the emergency room anyways. And Harry wasn’t up for blood today. So he sat down at the desk, pulling up a couple of forms and started filling them out patiently.

He was almost done with all the forms when he heard loud – familiar – voice coming down the hallway and ducked his head a little as the two men walked closer towards the desk, not granting him a look.

“I told you she was still alive.” He heard Liam say and from the sound of his voice he figured he was rolling his eyes as well.

“Well, it’s my job to check up on my patients.” He heard the voice with the Irish accent reason again and Harry pressed his eyes shut for a short moment, praying that the two wouldn’t spot him.

“She’s not your patient and you never check up on the people you bring in.” Liam said, before there was silence for a moment. “And anyways, you’re only trying to check up on the hot doctor who admitted her anyways.”

Harry couldn’t make anything of the words the two were saying and only slit even lower on his chair, his face turned towards the floor now as the voice got closer and all he could do was pray. Pray, pray, pray.

“Oh, Harry.”

Well, thanks God!

“Hey Liam.” Harry greeted back, not really lifting his head as he glanced at the two. “Niall.”

The blonde didn’t look up and Liam only shot him a strange look before turning back towards Harry who was still trying to disappear into the chair’s backrest.

“What are you doing?” Liam asked, eying Harry’s strange position.

“I, err..” Harry started, blushing as the two boys looked at him expectantly. “Dropped my pen?” He tried, fumbling with the pen in his hand, dropping it on the floor clumsily before picking it up. “Ah.” He said with an awkward laugh. “Got it.”

“Okay.” Liam said, obviously trying to suppress a smile that was forcing its way onto his face. “Yeah, well.. Niall and I were just talking about you.”

The blonde blushed and Harry did too a bit, trying to recall what exactly the two had been talking about. But all he could remember were patients and something..

“Anyways,” Liam picked up again and Harry blinked quickly before focusing his gaze back on him. “Shame you had to leave that early last night.” Harry gave him a sympathetic smile. Or what he hoped looked like an sympathetic smile. “By the way was that your girlfriend, or..?” The doctor asked, sounding casual but even though the question threw Harry off he didn’t miss how Niall stiffened a little, his face turning an even darker shade of red.

“Oh, no.” Harry said quickly, forcing out a laugh. “She’s my, er, roommate. But, you know, she needed.. help with.. something.” He ended lamely and realized that maybe this wasn’t the best excuse he had ever made.

“Hmm.” Liam hummed, glancing at Niall. “Because Niall and I were saying that it’d be a shame if you had a girlfriend.”

And okay, now Harry was definitely lost in their conversation. Where exactly was this headed again? Niall was only blushing even more and Liam was grinning like he was having the time of his life, so Harry didn’t really know what to do. He let out a dry laugh that came out weakly and sounded kind of pathetic.

“You could be into someone though, right?” Liam wanted to know and Harry only stared at him, trying really hard not to look at Niall. He couldn’t let the situation escalate now. “Someone from the hospital for example..” And okay, that was it.

“Well, only because you are into patients, doesn’t mean I am too.” Harry snapped quickly in defense, realizing right after that this may not have been the smartest move.

“Hey, I’m not into Zayn, okay?” Liam snapped back and Harry mouth fell open while Niall chipped in a quick “Who’s Zayn?”.

“I- I mean..” Liam began to stutter, realizing that he had given away a lot more than he would have liked to. Harry only laughed, relief flooding his body as the attention was drawn away from him. “I’m not even gay!” Liam stated quickly, shoving his hands into his pockets as he bit down onto his lip nervously.

“Yeah, right.” Somebody snorted behind Harry and he whirled around to face Louis who was standing with his hands crossed in front of his chest, smiling at the three of them wickedly.

“What do you know, nurse?” Liam snapped and Harry couldn’t help but smile a bit at the poor insult. Louis faked being hurt by gripping his heart and shaking his head lightly.

“You three are all such twinks, you don’t even know.” He said lightheartedly, making all three of their jaws drop.

“Excuse me?” Harry asked incredulously but Louis waved his hand in front of his face, effectively shutting him up.

“You three are all gay. Don’t even try to tell me anything else!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback makes me love you. xx


	7. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A tiny bit longer for all your greedy people out there. :)
> 
> Also, there's a bit of blood in there. Like not a lot, but yeah.. Just saying. xx

Niall was sitting in the waiting area near the main entrance of the hospital. His shift had ended hours ago, since he had only been working half the day, but he stuck around waiting for Liam anyways. Initially they had planned on going to the movies tonight, but after their awkward encounter with Harry and Louis upstairs on the third floor earlier that day, they both had decided that drinks seemed more than suitable tonight.

Trying not to let the conversation replay and in his brain over and over again Niall stared out the large paned front of the hospital gazing at the rain. He kept staring for a bit before his phone went off with a text from Liam, telling him to come see him in room 304. For a short moment Niall debated texting back, saying that he wasn’t having on-call-room-sex with him, but then decided against it, saving the joke for later as he made his way towards the elevator.

As Niall reached the third floor (all 300-and-something rooms were in the third floor, on Harry’s ward Niall had to find and it almost made him throw up) he ducked his head as he walked past the nurses’ desk. From the lack of sassy comments he figured Louis wasn’t around and a quick glance to the side confirmed the emptiness of the desk.

Halfway down the hallway Niall found the correct room, knocking quietly before pushing the door open.

“We’re not having sex, if that’s what you called me up for.” He said right away, closing the door behind him. Liam was laying on one of the beds, facing away from the door but turning over as Niall entered. He groaned at the joke and rolled his eyes, but scooted backwards making room for Niall on the bed. His friend went to lay with him.

“You’re a good looking lad.” Liam said calmly and Niall pushed himself backwards off the bed in surprise. Liam laughed and patted the space in front of him, trying to make Niall climb back onto the mattress.

“Is this how you’re charming your way into my pants?” Niall asked back sceptically, not quite moving back onto the bed yet. “’Cause it’s not working.”

“Niall, get on the bed.” Liam ordered with a laugh. Their relationship had always been close but platonic and Niall let habit take over as he snuggled into Liam’s chest. They were quiet for a long while and Niall thought Liam had fallen asleep, jumping a little as the older boy suddenly spoke.

“Zayn’s getting discharged today.”

“I thought you didn’t like him?” Niall questioned, stressing the word so Liam knew what he was talking about.

“I don’t.” He replied and nothing more needed to be said. They both knew he was lying but that was okay and so Niall didn’t bother asking any more. Liam however had different plans.

“So,” He began after a while, pushing himself up to get a better look at Niall. “I was thinking you should ask Harry to come with us again tonight.”

Niall snorted with laughter, giggling quietly until he realized that Liam was being serious. “Liam! You were there yesterday. He doesn’t want to go!”

“That’s just what you assume.” Liam scold him calmly. “His roommate needed help. He went to help her out. That was really nice of him. Won’t happen again tonight.”

“No, Liam.” Niall insisted, rolling his eyes lightly.

“Well, why not? Are you not going after him any longer?”

“I wasn’t going after-” Liam shot him a look that effectively shut him up and he bit his lip, gazing down at his hands. “Well, why don’t you ask him when you want him to go so badly!”

“Niall.” Liam said warmly, having a look in his eyes that reminded Niall of a worried father. He pushed himself off the bed and climbed over Niall, reaching for the white coat he had taken off before laying down. He pulled it back on over his scrubs, still looking at Niall. “You’re going to find him. And you’re going to ask him to come with us. If you show up alone later, I’ll make a post about you fancying him on the hospital’s website.” His voice was calm and sweet, like he was promising the world to Niall and his smile was friendly as he slowly walked to the door, pulling it open and exiting with a small wave.

“Liam!” Niall yelled after him right before the door fell shut. “I hate you. I don’t even get why people think you’re understanding or sensible!”

~

The thing is Liam had taken computer courses in school.

And in college.

And Niall hadn’t.

So Niall couldn’t be sure, but from the number of times Liam had fixed Niall’s laptop easily he figured it would be no problem for his friend creating an HTML document which ‘coded’ for a bright pink banner flashing “Niall loves Harry” nonstop. And so Niall basically had no choice but to go looking for Harry.

He put it off though, staying in the on call room for almost another hour, before he pulled himself together enough to get up and down to work. Sighing heavily he walked down the hallway slowly, gazing around. He wasn’t sure where to go looking for the boy and shortly played with the thought of asking Louis or letting him page Harry, but pushed that thought away quickly again. Louis had already done enough today, outing him to Harry and he wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that Niall had a crush. That kind of information in Louis’ hands was basically suicide. But then again it didn’t seem to be any different in Liam’s hands either, so what the hell.

Still going back and forth in his mind Niall had come to a stop near the front desk and looked up when he felt a gaze on him. Louis was sitting on his swivel chair, gazing at Niall intently. Something on his face must have given his trouble away though, because Louis was only smiling up at him, pushing his fringe to the side.

“He’s in the pit.” He said helpfully and Niall shook his head.

“I’m not looking for Liam.” He explained.

“I know.” Louis grinned wickedly. “Harry’s down in the pit.”

Niall couldn’t help the blush creepy onto his cheeks and he wondered whether Liam had told Louis that he should go see him. But he couldn’t stay wondering about that, not with Louis’ gaze on him so he smiled at Louis – or tried to – and then turned making his way towards the elevators and down to the first floor.

When he got to the emergency room Niall had to find that he was in no way prepared for meeting up with Harry. Sure, he had just spend an hour sulking in the on call room upstairs, but all he had done there was sum up enough courage to actually talk to Harry at all. Now that he was there, he was completely lost for words.

Fortunately Harry was still out of sight.

“Oh, Niall.” A familiar voice said upon bumping into him. When Niall turned his face was way too close to luscious curls and rosy lips, nervously pressing together. Harry held a chart against his chest, his fingers clinging onto the material, his smile crooked. “Sorry, I didn’t see you.” He mumbled and Niall waved it off casually, not really sure what exactly he was forgiving the boy for, because he was too caught up on starring at his long lashed and deep green eyes.

Niall still hadn’t said a word and he realized that it must have made Harry uncomfortable, because he started biting his bottom lip – Niall went into cardiac arrest right there – and stuttered nervously, gazing at his feet.

“Right, err..”

“My bad.” Niall blurted out and the other boy glanced back at him with a shy smile. “I.. I, er, was looking for you actually.” He admitted slowly, but couldn’t deny the beat his heart skipped as the younger boy’s eyes lit up.

“Oh?”

“Yeah, well, I was wondering- Liam and I were wondering, if.. if, err, if you maybe, err.. wanted to come to the bar with us again? With your roommate needing your help yesterday and all that, we didn’t really get to talk and I would like for you to join us again. We would- Liam would like for you to join us again. Maybe. Yes. Anyways.” He rushed the words out and Harry looked almost impressed at how fast the sounds stumbled past his lips. The impressed look however was replaced by a surprised one, a panicked one and then an unsure one.

“Oh, er, thanks I- That’s- It’s a lovely offer, really. Thanks.” He smiled awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. “But.. I’m working the night shift tonight, so..”

“Oh.” Niall said. He knew the disappointment was showing on his face and he tried to hide it, but he couldn’t. “No, of course. It’s no big deal.”

“Yeah.” Harry agreed, fidgeting with his fingers nervously. “I should probably get back to work, so..”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah. Okay bye.”

Harry rushed off and Niall turned on his heel, making his way away from the emergency room. Away, far away. As far away as possible, somewhere he wouldn’t have to face Harry again.

He ended up in the same chair in the waiting area he had been seated in a couple of hours earlier. He sat for only a while before Liam came and joined him, changed out of his scrubs and into normal clothes already. Liam shot him a surprised look when he got closer to him, eying the area around him curiously.

“You didn’t ask him?” Liam questioned incredulously and Niall wondered for a short moment whether his fried had been bluffing about the note on the website.

“I did!” Niall blurted out anyways, just to be on the safe side. “You can ask him.”

“Where is he?”

“Working the night shift.” Niall explained and Liam raised an eyebrow.

“I didn’t know Harry worked night shifts.”

~

“I didn’t know you worked night shifts, Harry.” Lou said as she eyed the doctor across from her desk.

“I don’t.” Harry admitted with a shy smile and a sigh.

“You-? But then you would’ve been off over an hour ago.” The nurse said again, taking the chart he handed her.

“I kinda used the night shift as an excuse not to go.. somewhere.” Harry admitted again and Lou rolled her eyes at him, putting the chart away.

“What can be so bad that you’d work longer than necessary?” She questioned, but Harry waved it off. He couldn’t really tell her, that this really lovely guy had basically asked him out, but that he felt too insecure and unprepared to say yes. He himself knew that this was a pretty bad excuse. He should have gone. He really should have.

Or at least he should have thought of a better excuse. Night shifts sounded like something reasonable, but he had forgotten that that meant his car still needed to be in the parking lot when the Liam and Niall returned from the bar. And so couldn’t leave. And since he couldn’t leave he decided he might as well work.

Three hours later he was kind of glad he had made this decision when his pager went off. One of his patients, a 911, so even if he would have been at home he would have had to come to take it. And so he was sprinting down the hallway to the ER again now.

A young nurse was standing waiting for him already, pushing a very familiar chart into his hand quickly.

“The paramedics called.” She said and Harry glanced at the name on the chart. Zayn Malik. “He fell again.”

~

When Zayn was brought into the ER on a stretcher, his one arm was bandaged down onto it, an infusion needle sticking out of it, the other clutched around his skateboard.

“Are you fucking stupid?” Harry mumbled under his breath as he rushed over to a unusually quiet Zayn.

“Hey Dr. Styles.” He mumbled with a dozy smile.

“10mg of morphine.” One of the paramedics told him and Harry nodded, pulling up his stethoscope. Zayn still grinned up at him sleepily.

“I think I fell.” He chipped, giggling quietly.

“I think you’re stupid.” Harry commented under his breath before pressing the stethoscope to Zayn’s chest, trying to listen to the sounds. “The right lung might be ruptured.” Harry said, looking over at the nurse beside him as she scribbled down onto another chart. “We’re gonna have to get him a CT scan as soon as possible.”

A rough coughing sound made him turn around. Blood was trickling down Zayn’s chin.

“Never mind. Call the OR. We’re coming up right now.” The nurse nodded, moving towards the desk as the paramedic helped move Zayn onto another bed. “Call for any general surgeon. A cardiac consult, too.”

“You’re the only general surgeon in the house right now.” She told him, her hands flying over the keyboard of the computer. “I could page Dr. McLannen, but it’d be at least thirty minutes before he’s here.”

One look at Zayn told him that that boy didn’t have thirty minutes.

“Cardio?” He asked, trying to get somebody in that OR with him. Of course there would be nurses and of course this wasn’t his first time operating all by himself. But it was the first time in this hospital and it was Zayn. And he kind of didn’t want to kill him.

“We really need to get going, doctor.” Another nurse told him that held a bowl under Zayn’s chin, collecting the blood. Harry saw Zayn’s eyelids flutter shut, but turned away too soon to see if they fluttered back open.

“Fine.” Harry sighed, trying to suppress the panic bubbling up inside of him. “Get him prepped. I’ll scrub and be right there.” The nurse rushed off and Harry sprinted up the stairs, pulling off numerous bracelets from his wrist as he went. This really wasn’t what he had imagined his night to go like.

Screw Niall. Screw that Irish lad for asking him out. And screw himself for being nervous and for making up shit excuses. It could be Dr. McLannen handling this, not him. But now it was him and he forced himself to think positively about it. It would go great. It would be okay. He wouldn’t die.

Hopefully.

“You aced medical school. You were the first in your year to perform a flawless appendectomy. You can do this.” Harry told himself as he pulled a cap over his curls, scrubbing his hands under running water. “You’re not going to kill him. Tonight is not a night to die. You’re not going to kill him.” A last look at his hands let him know that they were way too shake to perform surgery. “No other surgeon is here. You can do this.”

His hands dripping wet he stepped into the OR, accepting a towel one of the nurses handed him before letting them pull the robe over his arms and tie it in the back. Latex gloves followed and Harry curled his fingers into fists, forcing them to stop shaking.

‘It’s alright.’ He told himself, closing his eyes or a brief second before stepping closer towards the table.

“Everything is ready.” The nurse to his side told him. “Ready when you are, doctor.”

“Okay.” Harry said, letting out a deep breath. “Ten blade, plea-”

The door of the OR swung open, and Harry turned his head. Liam stood in the door, panting, a face mask held up to cove his mouth and nose.

“They paged me.” He panted out and Harry remembered that Liam and he shared Zayn as a patient.

“It’s okay.” Harry told him, calmer than he himself would have expected it. “I got it. It’s his right lung, I’ll fix it.” Liam only stared at him, looking torn between believing him and taking over the OR himself.

“Okay.” He said calmly after a second, straightening up a bit. “I was.. I was planning on asking him out, so.. Please don’t kill him.”

Harry smiled at him weakly.

“I’ll try not to.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback makes me love you (even more). xx


	8. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I started writing “911” it was supposed to be dramatic and emotional. Turns out after every chapter people tell they find it hilarious and funny and that they couldn’t stop laughing. So I decided it was time to edit the summary. (;
> 
> ALSO: Okay, so there’s definitely blood in this one. It’s not very descriptive since I don’t know what the insides of a human body look like, but yeah. I don’t want people puking at the computer screens, so take this as a warning. xx

The night Zayn was brought back into the hospital was rough for everybody. Niall had come with Liam when he had left the bar after being paged 911 for Zayn. The paramedic didn’t really understand why his friend was in such a rush and such an emotional state over “Just a patient” as he kept repeating, but Niall wasn’t stupid and he had a fairly certain idea of what was going on in his friend’s head so he stayed. He stayed, he didn’t asked questions and instead helped persuade Liam that after three and a half pints he was in no state to operate on anybody – let alone some boy he had a secret crush on – and let Harry do the surgery instead.

And so he dragged Liam away from the hallway leading to the ORs. Fortunately for Niall Liam had already been kicked out of Harry’s OR by the time he reached the correct ward, because Niall felt a little tipsy as well and he wasn’t sure if he could stand the sight of Harry’s curls tamed under a cap and his hands wrapped in tight gloves, ready to safe a life without pouncing on him and snogging the living hell out of him. And so he just didn’t.

Instead he grabbed Liam by the wrist and pulled him up to Louis’ ward – though Louis wasn’t there of course, it was just before midnight. They made a detour past one of the shelves with vitamin infusions and Niall grabbed two, along with needles, sanitizer and band aids before tugging Liam into the same on call room they had been in earlier that day.

“What, no sex jokes?” Niall asked halfheartedly but the look on Liam’s face gave away that it wasn’t the right time for banter. He was definitely a little drunk and looked like he was in shocked and Niall wondered for a moment whether he should take him down to the ER to get some pills. Liam, however, already plopped down onto one of the bed’s, his face buried in a pillow, his shoulder shaking with sobs.

Niall let out a sigh, pressing his eyes shut for a moment. He was too drunk himself to deal with a mentally broken down Liam right now, so he figured getting the two of them sober again was top priority right now.

“Turn over.” Niall mumbled, poking Liam in the side until he flopped over lazily, helpless tears trickling down his face.

“He’s gonna die.” Liam whined, stretching the word endlessly. Niall only sighed again, grabbed Liam’s right arm and started running the sanitizer through the crook of his arm.

“Harry is a good doctor. He’s gonna safe him.” Niall slurred back, slowly starting to unwrap one of the needles he had brought.

“You only say that ‘cause you think he’s hot- Hey!” Liam flinched when Niall brought the needle closer to his arm and pulled away. “What are you doing?”

“Vitamin infusion to get you sobered up.” He explained, watching Liam’s skeptical eyes. “I’m gonna get one too, it’s not toxic.” Liam still didn’t look convinced.

“You’re too drunk to.. put the needle in my arm.” He phrased rather unprofessionally, giggling to himself, but a deep frown staying on his face as Niall still held the needle in front of him.

“You are way more drunk than I am, now hold still while I place the catheter.” Niall said sternly and grabbed his friend’s arm, holding it in place with his knees as he moved both hands down onto his arm, squinting his eyes trying to get it right the first time. Or at least the second.

He didn’t and Liam complained, more tears of probably rather frustration than pain trickling down his cheeks. Niall wiped them away, apologizing for the already forming huge bruise on Liam’s arm as he hooked up the infusion and placed it on a shelf near the bed, making sure it lay higher than Liam’s arm.

Placing his own catheter turned out to be a lot trickier then doing Liam’s, but even after the fifth missed try Niall still wouldn’t let Liam help him.

“Please.” The older boy whined, making grabby hand motions towards Niall and the needle in his hand, making the paramedic wonder whether a vitamin infusion would be enough to sober Liam up within the next twentyfour hours.

“You can’t even see through all your tears.” Niall reasoned, squinting his eyes as he stuck the needle into his skin again, missing the vein for the sixth time. He mumbled a few curse words under his breath, but the boy on the bed beside him distracted him before he could really get into it.

“He’s gonna die. He’s gonna die and I haven’t even had a chance to ask him out.” Liam blabbered and Niall eyed him suspiciously from the side.

“You had more than enough chances, mate. You didn’t take them.”

“He’s gonna die an unloved virgin death and I won’t have the chance to be his savior to guide him into the undying love of Liam Payne.”

Niall only raised an eyebrow at his friend, finally managing to hook himself up to the vitamin infusion and then checking whether Liam’s was running properly.

~

Harry on the other hand spend hours upon hours in the OR. After opening Zayn’s chest Harry was greeted by a mess of blood and crushed organs and he became utterly mad at Zayn for being stupid enough to ignore all his warnings and get back on the damn skateboard. And fall again, on top of all things. The way his chest looked Harry contemplated for a short moment letting him die on purpose (not really though) simply because he was so angry.

But then he remembered that he actually kind of liked Zayn and that Liam really kind of liked Zayn and also that he had vowed to help people that were dying right in front of him. And so he asked for more blood, another blade and got his fingers into the mess, starting to save another idiot’s life.

Three hours later, however, Harry had to admit that Zayn had fallen in just the right angle to basically shatter his entire chest into a million pieces. When he mentioned that to the nurse she announced an ironic “Well done, Mr. Malik” and Harry wasn’t sure whether to laugh at that or not.

Harry had tried stitching Zayn back together as good as possible, but the generally unstable state the boy was in right now caused the threads to burst and the blood to spill over an over again.

“Dr. Styles?” One of the nurses interjected after almost four hours of surgery just after Harry had motioned for her to start giving the next blood bag. “I don’t mean to undermine your judgment, but.. if he isn’t going to make it, we’re wasting perfectly good blood donations here.”

No shit., Harry thought, but it was always that way when somebody died during surgery. He got her point however and nodded slightly, glancing at the large clock on the wall.

“Okay, fine.” He muttered, taking a deep breath watching the seam he had just sewn but started to leak blood already again. “Last blood bag.”

And as he announced those words he was almost positive he heard Liam’s heart break from somewhere far away.

~

The next day might have been the worst since Harry started med school. After getting out of Zayn’s surgery he had gotten two hours of sleep in an uncomfortable hospital bed before he had to get up again, preparing for his actual shift. So basically he had slept two hours in the past twentyfour and was still expected to be up and around right now, saving lives.

“Hey, you wanna come nap under my desk?” Louis asked with a sympathetic smile as Harry collected a few charts from the desk, looking like the living dead. Harry smiled back – or tried to – and nodded, shuffled away however and put on the smiliest of smiles to greet the next patient.

Some time during the day the ER paged him, letting him know that Zayn’s parents had come in and that he needed to talk to them. He put it off though, not feeling quite ready to have that talk, not after barely getting down any food for breakfast.

During his lunch break he ran into Liam in the cafeteria. And when Harry had thought he looked bad, he hadn’t seen Liam yet. His eyes were red rimmed and puffy, his hands shaking as he held onto the water bottle in his hand.

“You still drunk?” Harry asked quietly as he sat down across from Liam, a banana and a bottle of water the only things on his own tray. Fiddling with the etiquette of his drink Liam shook his head.

“Got a blood test this morning.” He explained, not looking up at Harry. “Still feel like I am though.” Harry nodded. “Haven’t talked to a single patient yet. Doing paperwork and all.”

“Lucky you.” Harry mumbled back. They sat in silence for a while and Harry peeled the banana, staring down at it for a long time before starting to eat. He forced himself to eat all of it, swallowing hard and trying to ignore the heavy feeling in his stomach.

“I, er..” Liam started and Harry looked up at him. The boy across from him look flustered, a faint blush on his cheeks. “Sorry for yesterday? For running into your OR and everything. It wasn’t my place to and I think it may have sounded like I didn’t trust you as a doctor and.. yeah. Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Harry replied with a smile as he watched Liam squirm under his gaze. “I suppose it’s okay when.. you have a little crush?” He tried and Liam blushed even more, glancing up quickly to meet Harry’s eyes, but then looking away right away again. Harry chuckled lightly. Nailed it.

“I should go.” Liam muttered, pushing himself off the seat, leaving his still completely filled water bottle back at the table.

~

Around afternoon Harry figured he couldn’t put off talking to Zayn’s parents any longer. He was only one hallway down from the ER, but decided to go fetch Zayn’s chart before looking for them. He told himself that it was so he could give them detailed information about the surgery and not to waste any more time. It totally wasn’t. Really.

When he got to the ward on the third floor he went to the front desk first, looking for Zayn’s chart (though he was already pretty sure that it wasn’t there).

“Looking for something?” Louis asked with a helpful look on his face and Harry shook his head. If he told Louis he was looking for the chart then Louis would tell him where it was at and then Harry had no excuse not to go down to Zayn’s parents.

“Okay Harry, you went through those charts three times now. Are you sure you didn’t leave it in the patient’s room?” Louis asked after a while and Harry huffed out a short breath before glaring at the nurse and walking down the hallway.

Louis had been right, the chart was in Zayn’s room, hanging on the foot of his bed, specked with tons of little notes from the nurses checking up on him hourly. Harry glanced at him sleeping peacefully, the monitor beside the bed beeping regularly. Zayn still hadn’t woken up - the nurses would have paged Harry if he did - and it worried Harry. Sure Zayn had just been through a long and exhausting surgery, but his brain activity was unusually low – had been the whole night and day – and it was just worrying Harry. As his doctor. (And as a friend of the boy who was walking around the hospital looking like a Zombie and talking Shakespearean crap because he didn’t get a chance to confess his undying love for the boy.)

There was movement next to Zayn’s bed as Harry stepped in and he jumped, not expecting anybody to be in the room. He tore his eyes from Zayn’s sleeping face and gasped quietly when his eyes fell on Niall who was sitting beside the bed. He had marks on his face and it looked like he had been sleeping with his right cheek pressed against the wall, the pattern of the wallpaper now showing on his skin.

“Sorry.” He muttered, looking down at his hands.

“No, it’s okay. Hi.” Harry said back, picking up the chart from the bed and looking at it, simply to be looking anywhere but at Niall. What was he even doing here? “Did you-.. Do you know him?”

“Oh.” Niall looked up at shot a confused look over towards Zayn, his mouth hanging open slightly. “I- No.” He said, glancing at Harry. The confusion must have been evident in his face, because a small smile played around Niall’s lips as he lowered his head again before looking out the window behind the bed. “I’m here to.. apologize to him? For Liam. He’s such an idiot for not asking Zayn out before and not he might not wake up and I’m just-.. Liam should’ve told him. That’s all.”

Harry’s eyes grew wide. That was kind of.. cute. Niall was kind of cute too, so that went along just fine. He actually looked really cute right now with his sleepy eyes and his scrunched nose and his wild, unruly hair.

Still sleeping Zayn couched quietly, but the sound startled Harry enough to make him lower his eyes from Niall’s face back onto the chart. His thoughts wandered to Zayn’s parents.

“Right, er, I think I should..” He motioned towards the door, rocking back and forth on his heels for a bit, before letting out a breath. “Yeah.”

“I-” Niall started just as Harry had turned and he whirled back around.

“Yes?”

“Err..” The blonde looking uncomfortable all the sudden, blushing lightly as he laced his fingers together, looking down at them. “T-Talking about, well, being too shy to.. ask someone out..” He started, taking in a deep breath and glancing up at Harry carefully.

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but was distracted by the beeping sound coming from his waistline. Right, his pager. He glanced down at it quickly, reading the number and remembering to check back with it later.

“Sorry, I.. What were you saying?” He asked, tearing his eyes away from the pager to look at Niall again who was looking at him with big eyes, blushing again as their eyes met.

“I- Nothing. It’s nothing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are you still interested in on call room smut?


	9. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know! I know. This one is super short. But you're gonna like it. Believe me.

Five days later Zayn still hadn’t woken up. Three days into the wait however Liam had decided to pick up his regular work again and he was happy about it. Working with patients distracted him a lot better then doing the same old paperwork over and over again. So he shut out as the worries about Zayn as much as possible and tried not to think about his beautifully peaceful sleeping features as he helped an elderly man with a dislocated hip.

Halfway through his shift Liam ran into Harry who had been in and out of the ER all day. They smiled at each other when their eyes met and Harry flipped the chart over he was holding as he walked closer towards Liam.

“Hey.” He greeted softly and Liam nodded in acknowledgment. “How are you?”

“Okay.” Liam said quietly, trying to keep his smile up. “Better. Have you seen Zayn yet today?”

“I was just up there. He looks fine though. Vitals are stable, brain activity perking up every now and then.. Basically the same as the last few days.” Liam nodded along as Harry spoke and hummed in agreement. At least Zayn wasn’t getting worse.

“Anyways,” Harry started, flipping the chart in his hands one more time. “I best be going. Have a surgery in a few. I’ll see you later, yeah?”

“Yeah, okay.” Liam agreed as Harry squeezed his shoulder comfortingly. “Good luck.” His curls disappeared behind a corner and Liam jumped a little when a voice suddenly spoke very closely to his ear.

“Good luck with what?”

Liam spun around. “Jesus, Nick you scared me.”

“Sorry, doc.” The plastic surgeon replied with a grin as he nudged his shoulder in the same spot Harry had squeezed it only a moment ago. “Is he dating your paramedic friend yet?”

“No.” Liam replied. “They’re barely talking to each other.” Nick rolled his eyes, fiddling with the name tag on his white coat. Liam smiled fondly up at his colleague (he refused to call Nick his friend, but really he was) as his gaze fell on the penis drawing Nick’s boyfriend had decorated the name tag with.

“How’s your better half doing?” Liam asked and Nick looked up from the name tag, letting it drop back against his chest as he huffed out a laugh.

“You probably get to see him more than I do, but other than that..”

Liam’s pager interrupted the two and he glanced down at the number on the screen.

“Shit.” He cursed shoving his own charts into Nick’s arms. “911, I gotta go.” And so he started running, making his way towards the stairs. Because 911 always meant something very close to death and Liam ran for all his patients. Not only because he was being paged for Zayn.

~

Liam was out of breath when he reached the ward on the third floor. Bursting through the doors he got some strange looks from visitors and patients as he jogged down the hallway. Louis was sitting at his desk, watching Liam with big eyes.

“Did you page Harry?” Liam almost yelled as he made his way past the desk quickly.

“Dr. Styles is in surgery.” Louis replied lamely and Liam wondered about his tone and why he didn’t at least page him anyways. Because if Zayn was dying or needed another surgery or anything at all Liam wasn’t sure he’d be in a state to help him with it. He wasn’t sure about anything really as he picked up his steps again the closer he got to Zayn’s room, slipping a little on the floor as he took a turn and burst through the door.

When Liam took in the scene in front of him he thought he was dreaming for a moment. His brain seemed to be working unbearably slow and his limbs felt heavy. He was just staring. And Zayn was staring back at him.

The dark haired boy was sitting in bed, his hands folded neatly in his lap. His eyes were wide and alert, but sparkled with something like amusement as he watched Liam starting to lose his mind in the doorway.

“Wha-?” Liam started, but he couldn’t form real words, let alone sentences as he simply kept staring at the boy in the bed. Zayn was looking back, starting to giggle quietly after a while. Liam was only opening and closing his mouth, trying to come up with something to say, trying to get his brain to work again.

“You’re not dead!” He blurted out after a while, only causing Zayn to start snickering all over again.

“I am not.” He confirmed with a grin.

“I-..” Liam was confused and felt the control over the situation slipping out of his hands more and more. “What-?”

Zayn seemed to be unable to wear an unamused expression any longer and the cheeky grin turned into a generous smile as he patted the edge of the mattress a little, motioning for Liam gently. “Come here, will you?”

Liam’s feet carried him across the room before his brain could even make up an answer for Zayn’s question, but the other boy seemed to be okay with nonverbal agreement. Quietly Liam took a seat on Zayn’s bed, only hesitatingly scooting closer. His hands holding onto the duvet frantically he swung his feet nervously as they lost touch with the ground.

Zayn was still looking at him intently and Liam was confused as to where to look. He tried to keep eye contact with the boy in the bed, but it felt too intimate so his eyes wandered through the room nervously, his gaze landing on the machines besides the bed. Absentmindedly he read Zayn’s stats and nodded along with the monotonous sound of his heartbeat. It made him remember a time when the sound hadn’t been steady at all.

“Why are you not.. dead?” Liam asked after a long pause and Zayn stared at him through the following silence.

“Do you want me to be?” Zayn asked a little incredulously, light panic swinging in his voice. Only then Liam realized that his question could be taken the very wrong way.

“No, no! I just-.. Louis- the nurse paged me 911 and usually 911 means the patient is dead or close to being dead, so..” Liam explained awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck.

“Is that why you ran?” Zayn asked perking up. Liam felt a deep blush creeping up on his cheeks and lowered his head a little. His head snatched up again however when he felt Zayn taking his hand into his, squeezing it lightly. Their eyes met and Liam blushed even more, fearing his head might explode any moment.

“The nurse told me he’d page you after I woke.” Zayn said, letting his thumb trail over the back of Liam’s hand. “I asked him to tell you to hurry.”

Liam wanted to smack him in the face for scaring the shit out of him, but decided to safe the violent action for Louis who had actually paged him, as he heard and saw the other boy’s heartbeat hitch on the monitor nearby.

“Uhm,” Liam said letting his gaze travel from the monitor to his hand that was still captured securely in between Zayn’s. “Why did you want, er, me to hurry?” As he asked the question Liam was very glad that it wasn’t his heartbeat displayed on the monitor because he was pretty sure his pulse was through the roof by now, probably beating at an unhealthy pace.

“I thought-” Zayn started, pausing long enough to force Liam to look at him. He was smiling. “I thought I had waited long enough already.”

Oh. Liam’s eyes grew a little wider and he tried not to look away as he definitely heard the beeping sound picking up speed.

“W-Waited on.. what?”

This time Zayn was the first to lower his eyes and Liam took the glance to catch a glimpse at the monitor.

“You.” The dark haired boy admitted and long forgotten was the monitor.

“On me?” He paused incredibly long. “To do w-what exactly?”

Zayn threw him an ‘Are you fucking kidding me?‘-look and let go of his hand to raise his own above his head, huffing out some air. “Are you a little slow on the uptake or something?” He asked, sounding a little desperate. “Niall talked to me, I know you like me. How many more times will I have to come stumbling into the emergency room before you ask me out?”

Liam clenched his teeth, keeping his jaw from falling open as he listened. He’d have to punch Niall later. Punch him and then treat him with a pint or two.

But he pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind as he reached out for Zayn’s hands again and threaded their fingers together. Zayn smiled at him, squeezing his hands back in encouragement. Liam took it as his sign to lean in closer, watching Zayn’s features steadily as the monitor behind his back seemed to be close to a melt down, beeping like crazy and Liam couldn’t help but smile.

Zayn huffed out a breath Liam could feel on the skin of his face and rolled his eyes. He reached down his own shirt to pull on the electrodes sticking to his chest. They came off and only a moment later the sound on the monitor died down, one steady beep echoing through the room signaling the loss of signal on the electrode.

“Maybe you can ignore the monitor now.” Zayn mumbled, leaning closer towards Liam again. They were both smiling as they leaned in closer and Zayn’s hands found Liam’s again, lacing their fingers together as their lips met. They could both feel the other’s smile as their lips started working against each other, the ridiculousness of the moment somewhat evident in their kiss.

They parted for a moment, both taking in large breaths of air and giggling quietly as they watched each other before leaning in again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All Ziam shippers happy? xx


	10. Chapter Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thought it was time for some Narry. Hope you enjoy!! xx

Almost two months later Zayn and Liam were the new dream couple of the hospital. They were disgustingly cute together and it became Louis’ new favorite activity to take the piss out of them whenever he saw them together. He was the first to find out, when he walked in on them not long after their first kiss to check up on Zayn.

“Sorry, lads.” He had said with a wide grin. “Just wanted to check why Zayn suddenly lost his heartbeat.” He picked up the electrodes that Zayn had pulled off his chest and strewn across the mattress. Liam looked flustered with swollen lips and sparkling eyes and Zayn looked mostly annoyed as Louis plugged the electrodes back onto his skin, a not so steady beeping sound filling the air. Louis had only rolled his eyes and left the two of them alone.

When they told Harry he only smiled, saying he was happy for the two of them. He glanced at Zayn and he gave him a sort of thankful nod.

Niall was over the moon when he finally found out, saying he knew it all along. Highfiving Zayn and hugging Liam he told them they needed to go out to get drinks together as soon as Zayn was released from the hospital again.

Zayn had been back home now for almost four weeks, bonded to the bed by Harry’s instructions and Liam’s puppy eyes. He very much hated that he needed to stay in bed pretty much all day, but as soon as Liam had promised that he was going to come see him every day after work he hadn’t seemed all that annoyed any more.

Soon enough Liam had decided that it was easier to simply sleep over at Zayn’s instead of going home every night. Zayn lived closer to the hospital anyways and even though Niall complained about being left alone in the flat Liam found an excuse for himself every night not to drive home anymore.

Six weeks after Zayn had left the hospital he had come in for a check up and Harry had ordered some more scans, making sure he was fine again. He had kicked Liam out, saying that he couldn’t be Zayn’s doctor and boyfriend at the same time and when he asked Liam what he’s rather be he only blushed and shuffled away.

But all scans came out clear and Zayn was free to go back to normal. He was bouncing up and down when Harry told him, saying he needed to tell Liam right away. Unfortunately Liam was stuck in the OR, bound to be in surgery for at least a couple more hours and so Zayn stuck around, lingering in the waiting areas to kill the time.

He got bored though after a while and shuffled around in an effort to find something to entertain him. He ended up in the emergency room where he found Harry, standing by the nurses’ desk with a lot of other doctors, apparently listening to something one of them was announcing in a loud and hectic voice.

“Hey.” Zayn quipped quietly as he stood next to Harry, watching the many doctors with big eyes. Just as Harry turned to look at him the man who had spoken clapped his hands and ushered them away, telling them to “get everything prepped immediately!”.

“What’s wrong?” Zayn asked as he watched the way Harry furrowed his brows and bit his bottom lip.

“There was an accident out on the highway. A gas truck got off the roadway and tipped over. People got out to help and paramedics and police of course. They tried to get the people to move away, but..” He paused for a moment and Zayn’s eyes grew wide expecting the worse. “There must have been a spark or something; a fire. It exploded.”

“Oh god.” Zayn gasped.

“Yeah, well..” Harry let out a breath. “This might get kinda ugly in here right now, so I don’t know.. if you wanna leave.” The doctor watched him intently, trying to estimate whether he should force him to go or not. But the decision was taken from him when sirens could be heard from outside and Harry threw Zayn one last look before pulling on a face mask, making his way to the entrance of the ER.

Harry glanced outside and saw two ambulances. It confused him as other doctors rushed past him with one hand on the stretchers and the other around a clumsily written chart, talking to the paramedics loudly. There should be more ambulances, he thought. They were expecting so many victims.

The last stretcher was pushed past him, the doctor walking along giving him a sympathetic smile as the paramedic handed him the chart, turning away from them. And even though Harry only caught a quick glimpse at the blond hair with the dark roots and the broad shoulders he knew immediately who it was.

“Niall?” He asked, following the paramedic who was returning to the ambulances outside. Niall stopped and Harry walked closer towards him, feeling his heart rate pick up a little. They still weren’t really friendly with each other, never really daring to talk for real. But something about the paramedics posture now made Harry turn him around, gaping when he caught a look at his face.

“Oh fuck.” Harry gasped, his hands immediately flying up the the blood on Niall’s forehead, completely ignoring the boy’s squirming underneath his touch. “Niall, you need to come inside. This needs to be stitched.”

“No, I-” Niall started, whimpering as Harry touched too closely to the cut in his skin.

“Come.” Harry said softly, taking the papers Niall was still holding and putting them down in the back of them ambulance. “Come.” He lightly put his arm around the older boy’s waist and led him through the entrance doors again, scanning the emergency room quickly to find an open bed for Niall.

Harry guided him to the back of the room where several beds were still unoccupied. He furrowed his brows again, wondering where all the victims were as he hurried to a shelf nearby grabbing all the utensils he needed to take care of Niall.

“Here.” He said as he sat back down next to the bed onto a little stool, holding out two pills and a glass of water for Niall. He usually would have explained what kind of medication he was giving the patient and how he was going to treat him, but Harry knew Niall was familiar with the way the emergency room worked so he saved himself the useless talking and got to work on Niall’s forehead.

The cut wasn’t all that deep but it was right above Niall’s left eye and Harry had a hard time cleaning the wound properly without letting the sanitizer drip into Niall’s eye. He started cleaning the wound, peeling out pieces of glass and dirt and Niall hissed lightly.

“That okay?” Harry asked and Niall bit his lower lip, nodding slowly. “Do you- Are you in any other pain?” Harry asked, his hands back in Niall’s skin and so the boy had no choice to move his head again.

“No.”

“Feel your limbs?”

“Yes.”

“Move your toes? Fingers?” His eyes still fixed on the cut he was cleaning Harry felt Niall squirm a little underneath his as he wiggled his toes and fingers lightly.

“Yes.”

“Trouble breathing?”

“No.”

“Back pain?”

“No.”

“Headache?”

“Fuck yes.”

Harry chuckled and even Niall’s lips curved up a little.

“The pills should kick in any moment.” He said though Niall probably knew that already. The blonde nodded anyways, holding still other than that as Harry put a healing lotion on the wound with a swab. Just as he was unwrapping a gauze bandage somebody stepped behind him and Niall looked up, sending a tired smile to the boy behind him.

“Holy shit Niall! What happened?” Zayn asked with big eyes and Harry growled lowly, because the shock in the boy’s eyes right now was what he was trying to avoid when he had sent him off earlier.

“Shouldn’t be standing next to exploding gas trucks I suppose.” He joked, but neither Harry nor Zayn felt like laughing at the sight of the blonde’s bleeding forehead. Niall made a face at them and Zayn caught himself, sending a half smile in his direction.

“Well.. shouldn’t you be the one bringing the people in here? Not the other way around?” He wanted to know and Harry probably would have found it funny if it had been any other paramedic.

“Yeah, well.. I would have just cleaned the wound myself but Harry dragged me inside, so..” Zayn looked from Niall to Harry and from the corner of his eyes Harry saw him wiggling his eyes inappropriately and Niall giggling quietly.

“Hold still, will you?” Harry instructed Niall quietly as he brought his hands up with the gauze bandage, starting to wrap it around the blond hair and the still leaking wound. They sat in silence for a moment, Niall fiddling with his fingers as he had his eyes fixed on them, avoiding Harry’s eyes. Harry focused on the complicated pattern he traced with the bandage, fitting it securely around Niall’s head. He tried to suppress the overwhelming urge to pull Niall in, to kiss the pain that still made him furrow his brows away, to hug him tight and to let the emotions lose he felt deep down inside of him at the thought of loosing Niall. He couldn’t really allow himself to break down right there and then.

It was Zayn who distracted him from his thoughts, as he turned his head studying his surroundings.

“Where is.. everyone? I- I mean.. the nurses said it was such a huge explosion and..?” His voice trailed off, his eyes still big and wondering as he turned back around to face Harry and Niall. Harry had just adjusted the bandage on Niall’s head and fixed it in place, so he let his hands sink down, exchanging a quick look with Niall before they both looked up at Zayn.

Zayn was no doctor, he wasn’t used to how things worked with big accidents. Harry and Niall did however and the look Niall had sent Harry confirmed the horrible suspicion Harry had had after only two ambulances had arrived at the hospital.

“Zayn..” Niall started slowly. Neither him nor Harry really knew how to explain this. “When, erm,.. The explosion was really big. Really big. And there was not a lot of people who didn’t make it, so..” He trailed off but from the way Zayn’s eyes grew even wider and the incredibly sad a moment later they knew he understood.

“Oh.” He said softly, lowering his head and biting his lip. Harry send him a sympathetic look and then turned to Niall again. The boy was looking back at him, blushing when their eyes met.

“Uhh..” He started, but nothing else came out and Harry’s mind went blank for a moment, a lot of suppressed feelings welling up. But he forced them down again before they could do any damage, trying to hide behind his doctor protocol.

“I’m gonna have to check your heart and lungs and then you’re free to go.” Harry said professionally and Niall seemed surprised for a moment by the change of his tone. He lifted his shirt however and Harry just stared at him, his brain short-circuited.

Right. Right.

He had to listen to Niall’s heartbeat and his breathing and he actually had to touch him and his chest and his naked skin and then he had to pretend it didn’t affect him and it was all a little much and Harry just couldn’t.

“Actually,” He started, tearing his eyes off the strip of naked stomach in front of him. His skin was so pale and beautiful and Harry wanted to lick it, but he really couldn’t. “Never mind that. I’ll have a nurse come over or- You can just, no- I’ll just. Erm- Yeah. Okay. Bye.”

And so Harry got up, his face flushed a bright shade of red and his hands clutching around his stethoscope. Niall needed a chart, Harry thought. Something he could stare at to avoid those piercing blue eyes that were watching him warily as he moved away from the bed and almost fell backwards when he toppled over the stool he had been sitting on only a moment before.

He hurried over to the nurses’ desk where he found Lou who was watching him with amusement dancing in her eyes. The smirk on her lips was wide and evil as he eyes darted back and forth between him and Niall.

“Smooth.” She teased with a laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What are your thoughts? NarryNarryNarry ;)


	11. Chapter Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SMUT SMUT SMUT! Also it’s poorly written, so feel warned.

Liam always thought his job was average. After a while it had grown repetitive, boring even. He never showed it, he still took good care of the patients he was working with but going through the same routine day after day for almost five years now without any change had been on his mind a lot lately. And being around Zayn – his boyfriend, a shining new toy – a lot had caused him to let his thoughts bubble over and share the boredom in his daily routine with the dark haired boy. He hadn’t thought much about the mischievous glint in the boy’s eyes, but dear had it taken its toll on him.

Never again was Liam going to complain about his daily routine.

In fact he kind of wished he had it back. After Harry had dismissed Zayn from the hospital for good, all his scans coming out clean, Zayn had started picking up the habit of showing up at the hospital anyways, just for good measure. He usually went to find Louis first, chatting with him for a while, trying to get him to page Liam for him. Preferably 911.

“I can’t.” Louis said sternly, shuffling a few papers in his hands not looking up at Zayn. “If I page him 911 for you Liam would literally kill to get here as fast as possible.”

“Well yeah, that’s kind of what I’m going for anyways.” Zayn said with a wide grin.

“I’m not putting him into cardiac arrest” - Zayn rolled his eyes at that because sometimes it seemed that everyone around him seemed to forget that he didn’t have a medical degree - “Just so you can get a quick shag in the on call room.”

“I-” Zayn stared, his jaw falling open and his eyes growing wide in surprise. “We don’t.. I mean, Louis, we wouldn’t-”

“Save it.” Louis cut him off. “There’s only so much ‘Liam, harder, Liam!’ a paper thin hospital wall can cover.” He said with a horrible imitation of Zayn’s voice which left the boy across from him blushing and feeling incredibly awkward. Louis took one look at he horrified expression in Zayn’s eyes before he doubled over with laughter.

“C’mon Zaynie. You’re not the only two having sex in an on call room. Don’t worry about it.”

“Oh yeah?” Zayn shot back, trying to cover how embarrassed he was feeling. “Who are you sleeping with in the on call rooms?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” The nurse replied with his eyebrows pulled up high, his head cocked to the side.

Zayn stayed for a while longer, chatting with Louis subtly still trying to get him to page Liam though he knew his boyfriend would be in surgery for a little while longer. Louis was successfully procrastinating the work he had to do while they talked and time flew by rather quickly. Before either of them knew it a lady dressed in colorful clothes showed up, a kid by her side.

“Oh hey buddy!” Louis greeted the boy, walking around the desk to wrap his arms around the boy’s middle, lifting him off the ground. He looked to be around four years old and Zayn watched curiously as Louis placed a gentle kiss on the boys head who only squirmed and laughed before Louis set him down onto the ground.

“Thanks Melissa.” The nurse said to the woman who had brought the boy. “It’s been a little chaotic lately, thanks for bringing him up.”

“No problem. Had to pick up my girl from daycare anyways, right?” She replied with a smile and waved good bye, walking down the hallway towards the elevators. The little boy had climbed up of Louis’ swivel chair in the mean time, looking at the papers on the desk.

“Oh sweety, don’t touch these, okay?” Louis said quickly as he hurried around the desk. He placed himself between the boy in the desk, effectively keeping his little grabby hands from reaching the papers. “Daddy will get you something to draw, alright? Grandma is gonna be here in a bit to pick you up, but you can’t make a mess, here me?”

“Okay.” The boy replied slowly, sounding bored and like he had his father say those words a hundred times before. Louis proceeded to take out some blank papers for the boy and colorful markers, taking his own paperwork off the desk so the boy could draw. Zayn only starred while the boy drew and Louis put away papers.

“You have a son?” He asked, his eyes ever so wide in surprise. Louis gave him a small smile.

“Yeah. I’m married too.”

~

It wasn’t until two hours later that Zayn finally got a hold of Liam. He had been walking around the hospital looking for his boyfriend, but not daring to ask another nurse to page him. Zayn found Liam just as he was exiting a patient’s room on the forth floor, his eyes fixed on the chart as he walked so they almost bumped into each other.

“Um, sorry.” Liam mumbled without looking up, moving to step back and walk around Zayn.

“Well hello Dr. Sexy.” He teased and Liam looked up at that. A faint blush crept onto his cheeks.

“Jeez, Zayn.” He said with a light laugh, rolling his eyes fondly as Zayn’s hands traveled up his chest, his entire body pressing against his. “W-What are you doing?” He asked glancing up and down the empty hallway helplessly.

“How was your day?” Zayn asked back, ignoring Liam’s question and letting his own lips linger over the skin of Liam’s cheek instead. The younger boy shivered lightly, keeping quiet as Zayn finally pressed his warm and soft lips against his skin and let them trail downwards slowly, kissing along the line of his jaw and the stretch of his neck.

“This is really inappropriate.” Liam said, his voice merely a whisper as he tilted his head back, giving Zayn better access.

“Mine wasn’t all that great.” Zayn answered his own question, ignoring Liam’s concerns once again. “Louis was really rude to me earlier.” He said quietly, his lips pressing against the shell of Liam’s ear. The boy was still in his arms, not moving away from the touch the slightest bit.

“Yeah?” He asked breathlessly after a long pause, seemingly needing time to process the conversation properly.

“Yeah.” Zayn agreed, smiling against the skin below Liam’s ear as he carefully nibbled on the skin. “He said I only ever come to the hospital to shag you.”

“You only ever do come to the hospital to shag me.”

Liam hissed loudly when Zayn bit down hard onto the skin, tightening the grip around Liam’s hips and pushing him backwards until his back hit the wall.

“Really inappropriate, really inappropriate, really inappropriate.” Liam kept muttering as Zayn sucked on the skin of his neck, trying to get the boy in his arms to relax. Zayn had to admit though that he liked his boyfriend’s job and that also Liam seemed to like it and so he didn’t want him losing it over stupid PDA in the hallway so he only growled lowly, a sound he knew went straight to Liam’s crotch, and pulled his lips from Liam’s skin for a short moment, only long enough for the boy to drag him into the nearest on call room, pulling the door shut behind him and locking it swiftly. He grabbed a hold of Liam’s wrists and before the boy knew it he was pinned against the wall again, his hands caught above his head in one of Zayn’s, his lips attached to Zayn’s needfully.

“Did I mention-” Liam started, Zayn’s lips crashing against his and effectively shutting him up. His back still pressed against the wall Liam tried pressing back against Zayn’s body, arching his back off the wall desperately.

Zayn pressed back against him, bucking his hips forwards and skillfully sliding one of his thighs between Liam’s legs pushing up against his crotch. He could feel Liam’s growing bugle twisting against his leg and smirked wickedly down at the boy arching his back below him.

“So needy.” Zayn murmured against his ear, pressing impossibly close against Liam, taking his breath away to leave him breathing even harder than he already was. “Bed.” The older boy ordered, holding onto Liam’s hips firmly as he pulled him away from the wall and led them both towards one of the narrow and uncomfortable hospital beds. The first time the two of them had ended up in one of those Zayn had refused to ever again sleep/shag in those, because they were hard as the floor and definitely not wide enough for proper sex. But their libido and instincts or whatever other creepy talent they may or may not have had took over after a while and so they ended up in hospital beds in on call rooms more often than either of them would ever admit.

Liam let out a soft grunt as he plopped back down onto the bed now, rubbing his head lightly as it hit the mattress. Zayn crawled on top of him quickly, straddling his hips and grabbing Liam’s hands again, pulling them away from his head and placing them under his back, a clear sign not to touch.

Zayn bent down, letting their lips connect again as he started moving his hips in painfully slow circles, letting their erections press together deliciously. A soft moan escaped Liam’s lips and Zayn smiled into their kiss, biting down onto Liam’s lips in encouragement.

“Let me hear.” He whispered, mouthing hot kisses along Liam’s sharp jaw line and his hands slowly traveled down the boy’s torso. They hesitated when they reached his nipples, pinching and twisting them lightly in the way Zayn knew Liam liked it. In response he was rewarded with a deep and loud moan, Liam’s eyes widening at the pleasure he felt.

Zayn only smirked again, letting his hands trail even lower to untie the scrubs pants Liam was wearing. With one swift motion he pulled them down, taking along the tight black boxers as well.

“Zayn, please.” Liam hissed as his member sprung free, laying fat and red against the dark blue of the scrubs shirt. Scooting down Liam’s body and pushing the shirt up a bit Zayn reached down to his boyfriend’s dick, wrapping his long dark fingers around it teasingly. He always admired the way his dark skin contrasted Liam’s rather light one. Today though he was too caught up with the way Liam’s eyes sparkled beautifully up at him, wonder shining in them. And that’s the way it always was for Zayn, there was always something new. Every time they spent time together, and especially when they got intimate, Zayn seemed to discover something new, something beautiful about Liam he hadn’t quite noticed in that way before. And today it turned out to be his eyes so he started at them for a little longer, mesmerized by their depth and the emotion.

Liam’s squirming body underneath him and the quietly muttered pleads pulled him back into reality however and he took a quick glance at the pulsing dick in his hand before he bent down, licking a fat stripe up the length before wrapping his mouth around the tip. Tilting his head back a little he looked back up at Liam’s face and saw his eyes, those sparkling eyes, shining with so much affection it almost hurt.

Zayn felt like maybe he was paying too much attention to Liam’s eyes and not enough to the blowjob he was trying to give, but Liam’s panting and moans let him believe he wasn’t doing all that bad. But just as he taking Liam in deeper and deeper, fearing he might gag before Liam could come his work was interrupted.

And whilst they had remembered to lock the door there still was Liam’s pager.

The sound seemed to sober Liam up a bit and as Zayn stopped his movements, letting the still throbbing cock fall out of his mouth and against Liam’s stomach, Liam reached off the bed to find his pager.

“What is it, doctor?” Zayn asked teasingly and Liam flushed.

“Not so important.” Liam mumbled back, tossing the pager off the bed. “Might wanna hurry though.” He added, a light shade of pink still covering his face.

“Fine.” Zayn said, letting out a huff and faking an annoyed look while he pulled a condom and some lube out of his own pocket.

“I’ll get that.” Liam mumbled grabbing the lube from Zayn, motioning towards him. “You get your pants.” He added, pushing the condom away from himself. Zayn watched for a moment as he lingered by the side of the bed and Liam poured the lube over his own fingers. He carefully spread it all over, sliding his fingers together before he stuck out the middle finger, letting it trail down his body and circle his hole.

“Holy shit.” Zayn cursed, watching his boyfriend as he carefully let the first finger sink into him. They had had sex a lot of times before and Liam had bottomed before too, but never once had he prepped himself. In fact, Zayn had never seen anyone prep themselves, but now that he did he didn’t think he was every going to do it for them anymore. The sight of Liam spreading himself open, with two fingers buried deep inside him now was the hottest fucking thing Zayn had ever seen.

Somewhere along the staring he remembered that he needed to get his own pants off and tried to peel off his jeans and boxers without having to take his eyes off his moaning and shivering boyfriend. He stumbled onto the bed again, grabbing the condom and rolling it on with shaking fingers, his eyes still fixed on Liam who was fucking himself on his fingers now.

“Please.” Zayn begged, letting out a pathetic whimper he would never admit he had let out later on. Liam send a small smile up at him, pulling his fingers out, his hole clenching around nothing. He wiped his hands off on the sheet, looking up at Zayn with big eyes.

“Okay?” Zayn wanted to know and Liam only nodded, taking his boyfriends hands. Zayn held onto them, letting their fingers intertwine before he brought their hands down on either side of Liam’s head, steadying himself over his body.

He glanced down at Liam’s eyes again, yet again caught up in their beauty as he pushed closer, his hips bucking as the tip of his dick made contact with Liam’s hole.

Everything after that happened in a haze of hot skin against skin and a lot of stifled moans, only breaking through when both boys reached their climax. Liam tried to do as Zayn told him and ‘let him hear’, but in the back of his head he was still aware of the fact that there were patients laying in the rooms next door and that they probably didn’t want to hear about their doctor’s sex experience.

“Zayn.” He whimpered when the boy pulled out, kissing Liam’s face restlessly.

“Shh.” Zayn muttered, somehow discarding the condom without Liam really noticing before he leaned back down, letting his body rest heavily against Liam’s. All Liam could do was lazily wrap his arms around Zayn’s torso, stroking his back slowly as their breaths calmed.

“I love you.” He muttered after a while into Zayn’s hair, letting his hands come to a stop on his lower back. Zayn didn’t reply and only turned his head the slightest bit, pressing a soft kiss against Liam’s chest.

They were quiet for a long while, both boys simply enjoying the silence and the feeling of being together.

“What did you mean to say earlier?” Zayn asked eventually, letting Liam pull him even closer towards to him. Though Zayn still couldn’t see the boy’s face he knew he was smiling when he replied.

“I meant to tell you that I really like when you come by the hospital just to shag me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Personally I think I’m a decent writer in general, but smut really doesn’t do it for me. Like idk if you feel the same, but it wasn’t hot and it wasn’t cute so idk what it was. Please leave some feedback on this. xx


	12. Chapter Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I assume here's what you get for thinking my chapters are funny. This one is really kinda depressing I think.. at least in the begining. Idk.. I'm sorry?

„Can I get a quadruple scotch?“ Harry asked slowly, his head resting in his hands, his elbows propped on the bar. “Like a double-double scotch?” The bar tender raised his eyebrows a little but grabbed a glass from behind the bar, filling it almost completely with the yellow brownish liquid.

“Rough day?” He asked as he handed Harry the drink, a sympathetic look in his eyes.

“Don’t get me started.” He muttered back, taking a large gulp and feeling the welcoming burn stretch from his throat to his stomach. The bar tender didn’t miss the hint in Harry’s tone that he didn’t want to talk about it and only shot him one last look before he strolled off to the other end of the bar.

Harry let out a defeated sigh and lowered his head to let his cheek rest against the counter top, closing his eyes for a moment. Way too soon he heard the stool next to him being pulled back as somebody took a seat. Harry didn’t need to open his eyes to know who it was.

“Go away, Gemma.” He muttered, not moving his head the slightest bit. “I’m not near drunk enough to go home yet.” There was a pause and Harry contemplated opening his eyes to shoot her an angry look. Before he got around to that though the person next to him spoke.

“Okay..” They said hesitantly and Harry’s eyes shot open immediately, because that voice wasn’t Gemma’s. It wasn’t a girl’s actually, it was a man’s, and from a man Harry knew.

“Zayn.” He groaned, lifting his head off the counter slowly.

“Hey Dr. Styles.” He said with a wide grin and Harry rolled his eyes at him. Somehow that dark haired boy still thought he was funny calling Harry the way he had introduced himself initially. “What’s up?” He added with a worried glance at the glass in front of Harry and the tired and defeated expression on his face.

“Bad day.” Harry grunted back, picking up the glass and taking another large swing just as Zayn motioned for the bartender to bring a beer for him.

“Bad enough to start out the night with cheap scotch?” Zayn asked with a sad smile, ignoring the hurt look in the bartender’s face at the insult of his drinks. “Weren’t you the one to tell me never to order anything other than beer in this bar?”

“Drop it, Zayn.”

“Oh wow.” The older boy said, raising his eyebrows sceptically. “Somebody hasn’t gotten laid in a while.” He said lightly, nudging Harry’s side with his elbow. Harry however really wasn’t in the mood for jokes tonight. With a crashing sound his fist landed on the surface of the bar, making not only Zayn but also their drinks jump a little.

“Shut. The fuck. Up.” He said calmly, his teethes clenched and his hands still pressing against the counter top.

“Harry?” Zayn tried again after a long pause, looking at the boy who had grown to be his friend with big eyes. “Harry, what’s wrong? Is it your mom? Is she alright? Is-”

“Please.” Harry whimpered, biting his lip, his eyes fixed on the drink in front of him. They were quiet again and Harry took the time to down the rest of his drink, feeling like it burned away all his insides, but in a good way. Like all the helplessness was gone.

It didn’t last long though.

Zayn didn’t know what was happening when a few minutes later Harry was running his hands through his hair and down his face, taking deep breaths, a little too quickly. And even though Zayn was still incredibly uneducated in everything concerning medicine he still knew when he saw somebody hyperventilating.

“Hey, hey, hey.” He tried to sooth Harry, wrapping an arm around him and rubbing his shoulder soothingly. “Calm down, it’s okay. It’s okay, Harry. Harry, Harry!” He was shaking him slightly now, trying to grab his attention. The curly haired boy in his arm was still breathing too deep and too fast and Zayn was starting to feel rather helpless, looking around for somebody to help him. But just as he was about to call for the bar tender Harry raised his hand a bit, waving him off and Zayn obeyed silently. He watched as Harry changed his breathing, seemingly trying to control his breathing actively. Zayn didn’t stop rubbing his arm, cooing quietly until Harry was back to normal. He signaled for the bar tender to bring some water as Harry hid his face in his hands.

“Harry.” Zayn said timidly as the bar tender set down the glass of water in front of them. “Tell me what’s wrong.” He insisted. It was everyday that his friends had panic attacks in public places for no apparent reasons at all.

“I-” Harry started quietly, but then changing his mind and grabbing for the water instead, drinking in slowly. Zayn only watched and they sat in silence for a while longer before Harry spoke again. “I.. had a bad day. A really bad day.”

Zayn sat and watched Harry’s face twitch lightly, his eyes still fixed in the drink in front of him.

“The patients here are.. a lot more serious? Than at the small hospital I was at before. I’ve had more deaths in the three months that I’ve been here than in the two years in Cheshire. I suppose it’s just..”

“It’s a lot to take in.” Zayn agreed, rubbing Harry’s arm in comfort again. “Do you.. wanna tell me about them?”

“You don’t really wanna hear about the literally bloody messes I have to stitch back together every day, do you?”

“Leave you the blood parts and I will.” Zayn said with a small smile. With the amount of time he had spend at the hospital lately they all had learned rather soon that Zayn wasn’t all that great at seeing blood. At least not without fainting.

Harry smiled back at him sadly, turning his head down to gaze at the wet stains the glass had left on the counter, swirling his fingers through them. He wasn’t even sure if he was allowed to talk about his patients – doctor-patient confidentiality and all – but the thought of getting it all off his chest seemed very appealing at the moment.

“There’s this.. one guy.” He started after a long pause and Zayn straightened up a little. They were both gazing at their own drinks, but Harry knew Zayn was listening. “He came in this morning. A car hit him while he was riding his bike. The ambulance brought him in and he really wasn’t in a bad condition – considering what had happened to him. His aorta ruptured- um..” He hesitated, trying to phrase it differently for Zayn. “Like, his main blood vessel broke. So he was loosing a lot of blood, and I mean something similar to that happened to you too, so it’s nothing that’s necessarily fatal. But..” He paused again, taking a quick look at Zayn to make sure he hadn’t gotten unreasonably pale yet. “When a patient loses a lot of blood, we give them blood so they don’t bleed out. Not this guy however, he.. he’s a Jehovah’s witness. And they believe that.. that life is a gift given by God and that it’s not right to.. to give blood. They don’t want it. So..”

“You can’t give him blood?” Zayn asked as Harry voice trailed off. The curly haired boy nodded. “But he needs it right? He..” Zayn trailed off as well, slowly starting to realize what Harry was telling him.

“He’s not gonna make it through the night.” Harry confirmed. “I’m basically just waiting for them to page me.” He nodded towards the pager on the bar next to the discarded scotch glass.

“Oh.” Zayn said quietly, biting him lower lip. “I’m sorry.”

“No it’s.. It’s not your fault. It’s not his fault. It’s nobody’s fault.. Which I guess makes it only harder because there’s no one to blame. Nothing to do.. I always thought medicine was never going to fail me.”

“Oh, no.” Zayn said quickly, looking over at Harry now. “It hasn’t failed you. It’s just.. a decision that’s hard to respect I suppose. But..” He paused for a moment. “If anything had failed you than it’s humanity and you wouldn’t be the first, so..” A small smile played around his lips and even Harry seemed to quirk up a tiny bit.

“Talking about that.” Zayn exclaimed, remembering something he had found out earlier that day and still left him rather speechless. “Did you know Louis had a kid?” And this time Harry let out a laugh, a real one.

“We’re talking about how humanity had failed us and then you remember that Louis had a child?” He asked incredulously, still giggling a little. Zayn smiled at his newly gained good mood, but couldn’t help the wonder in his eyes.

“Yeah, I mean- no. But did you know?”

“No.”

“I always thought he was gay!” Zayn exclaimed again and Harry chuckled some more. “I mean have you seen him? I- If I had to pick anyone – anyone – who looked like the queen of all gay men, I’d have picked him! And now he’s straight. Humanity had definitely failed me.” Harry was laughing again and Zayn joined in.

“Gay men can have children Zayn.” Harry suggested but Zayn waved him off, shaking his head.

“I was so sure that he was gay. So sure!”

“Maybe you’re just getting a little too much dick lately and thus imagine everybody else to be into that kinda stuff too.” Harry teased, but Zayn wasn’t having any of it.

“There is no such thing as too much dick.” Zayn told him with a straight face, ignoring the way Harry wiggled his eyebrow suggestively. “Maybe you’ve been on a dry heap for too long to know about that though.”

“Fuck you.” Harry only muttered back, idly wondering how a boy he barely knew four months knew about his sex life. It kind of made him wonder what else Zayn knew. But the dark haired boy was laughing at him now, nodding his head knowingly.

“You know I could help you out with that..” Zayn started slowly and Harry only shook his head in disgust.

“I’m not into weird kinky threesome stuff with you can Liam, forget it.”

Zayn was only laughing again. “If Liam was into that kinda thing we’d have asked you a long time ago.” And Harry didn’t know whether to feel flattered or grossed out, trying not to think of the rather vivid image of having with two of his best friends.

“Anyways,” Zayn started again, pulling Harry back into reality. “I might know somebody who might like you and might want to help you out with that stick up your arse.” He chuckled at his own inappropriate joke but Harry only shook his head again.

“Too many ‘might’s if you ask me.”

Zayn rolled his eyes at him, shoving his shoulder lightly. “Okay, he’s fucking gone for you and so are you for him. You and I both know who we’re talking about here, so just drop it.” Harry eyes grew a littler wider, because, yes, it seemed like Zayn knew even more about him.

“I-” He began, taking a quick breath to collect himself. “I have no idea who you’re talking about.” He said, trying to avoid biting his lip, fiddling with his hands or doing anything else that gave his nervous behavior away. It was in vain though when he saw the sad but knowing look Zayn shot him.

“Fine.” He said sounding as defeated as Harry felt. “Let’s not talk about Niall.”


	13. Chapter Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, sorry, SORRY it's been so long. :(

„I just gave birth to a child!“ Liam chipped happily as he took quick steps through the hospital’s cafeteria towards a table in the back where Zayn and Niall were seated.

“What else would you give birth to?” Niall asked with a roll of his eyes, watching as Zayn craned his head to the side a bit, letting Liam kiss his temple before he plopped down next to him. Niall’s comment went mostly unnoticed, but his thoughts had scrambled on already, his brows furring in confusion. “How’d you give birth in the first place? You’re a dude.”

“Niall.” Liam said with a stern look, refusing to roll his eyes, his tone alone letting Niall know that he was being stupid. Zayn however, thinking it was funny, went along with it.

“Does that make me straight? Ugh!” He exclaimed raising his hands above his head. He pulled his face in a grimace of disgust making Niall double over with laughter. Liam only eyed them sceptically, trying hard not to give in and snicker at the funny faces his boyfriend was pulling.

“You two go ahead and laugh.” He scold them. “I just witnessed the miracle of life.” That only made Niall and Zayn laugh even harder, clutching onto the table and holding their stomachs, gasping for air. Liam frowned at them, proceeding to steal some of Zayn’s snacks while he waited for the boys to calm down. Once he was back to normal the dark haired boy shot him boyfriend an apologetic look.

“That’s great though, babe.” He said, a genuine smile lighting up his eyes a bit. “I thought you only fix old people’s hips?”

“Nah.” He swallowed the snack glancing from Zayn to Niall quickly. “It was a rather young girl actually. She was pregnant and popped her shoulder out. I tried to fix it, but the stress must have caused her to go into labor early and before I knew it I was stood in the OR, popping her shoulder back while she was giving birth.” He said, awe and admiration swinging in his voice.

“Gross.” Zayn only commented and Niall have him a shrug.

“People poop on the table when they give birth.”

“Thanks, Irishman.” Liam said pulling a face and pushing the snacks away from him. “Just the mental image I needed.”

“Makes you glad you’re gay, huh?”

“You’re telling me!” Liam agreed with a laugh. Zayn was sitting by his side, pouting a little as he poked his side.

“You wouldn’t want me to have your babies?” He asked, making a big scene of pushing his lower lip forwards quivering.

“As long as I didn’t need to be there while you pooped on the table.”

“Liam!” Zayn exclaimed, dropping his pouting face and pushing Liam’s shoulder hard. “You’re the one talking about the ‘miracle of life’ like two minutes ago!” Niall was snickering at them from across the table and Liam couldn’t help but laugh as well.

“Well I didn’t know about the pooping on the table deal back then.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” A voice asked behind them and they all turned their heads, looking at Harry who stood with his eyes wide and brows furrowed at the same time.

“Dr. Styles.” Zayn greeted him with a grin, patting the chair next to him. Harry however ignored his gesture letting his eyes wander from Zayn to Liam and than to Niall, blushing so lightly one could barely tell.

“Hey Harry.” Liam greeted, but Harry still had his eyes fixed on Niall.

“Hi.” The blonde breathed, chills running down his spine. They were staring at each other, both kind of waiting for the other to make the first move at something, but nothing happened.

“Sit with us, will you?” Liam asked after while, not being able to stand the awkward silence any longer. He gestured towards the chairs between him and Niall and the air got even thicker than it had been before. Harry reckoned that the sharp scalpels from the OR would easily could through it.

After a long moment he realized that the three boys were all looking at him expectantly and he idly recalled the question Liam had asked him before.

“Actually,” He said motioning towards the door, holding up the water bottle in his hand. “I just came down here to grab a drink, I, erm, have a surgery now, so..”

“You’ve had a lot of surgerys lately, haven’t you?” Liam asked again, looking honestly curious. It wasn’t like Harry was stuck in the OR for his entire shift, but when new doctors came to the hospital they usually like to ease them into their busy surgery schedule rather than kick them right in. Harry however seemed to be different.

“Yeah.” The younger boy nodded, lowering his eyes for a moment. “Suppose I’m just that good.” He said with a cheeky smile and Zayn rolled his eyes, sighing loudly. Liam only shook his head, smiling fondly as Harry had already halfway turned away from them.

“I’m sure you are.” Niall blurted out and Harry stopped in his tracks. They were all staring at Niall now who was squirming under the attention he was given. “I mean you.. look good.” He seemingly paled at that. “No! I mean- Yes, no. Like, erm, a good doctor is what I meant, I- yeah.” He stuttered out, his face flushed bright red now and Harry wasn’t doing much better himself but neither of them saw, their eyes cast down at their own hands.

Zayn and Liam were exchanging amused looks, glancing from Harry to Niall waiting for either of them to say something. Harry was the first to speak.

“I- I really need to..” He pointed towards the door again and turned on his heel, walking away before one of the boys could say something.

“Niall!” Liam exclaimed as soon as Harry had left the cafeteria, pushing the blonde’s arm from across the table. He had an expression of wonder and amusement in his eyes as he kept poking Niall, trying to get him to look up. “What is wrong with you? Just talk to him. He’s all over you!”

“No.” Niall mumbled back, hiding his face in his hands as Liam shot Zayn a disbelieving look.

“Say something.” He mouthed, elbowing Zayn in his side. The dark haired boy only shrugged helplessly and sighed as Liam jerked his head towards Niall again.

“You owe me.” Zayn whispered back before turning towards Niall. “Come on, buddy. Harry really likes you. I talked to him the other day over a few drinks. He likes you, he really does. He’s just shy.”

“No.” Niall shook his head again, still refusing to look at his friends.

“Niall.” Liam insisted, whining his name as he pulled Niall’s hands from his face.

“I’m so awkward.”

“No, you’re not.” Liam said softly, but Niall only glared at him before lowering his eyes again.

“Stop lying.”

“Okay fine, you’re awkward around him.”

“See, I’m awkward!” Niall exclaimed with a sigh and Liam shot him an angry look before turning towards Zayn again for help.

“Well-” The dark haired boy started, biting his lower lip. “Who says he doesn’t like awkward boys?”

“Have you seen him? He’s a fucking sex god and probably the major of good-looking-ville himself. And what am I?” He made a dramatic pause and both his friends let out a laugh. “Well, it’s good to hear I’m at least a laughingstock.”

“Oh, Nialler. Come on.” Zayn said, still giggling poking his arm. “You’re a great catch and you know it.”

“Well I wish Harry knew.”

“He does though!” Zayn encouraged and Liam nodded in approval. Niall glanced at them sceptically shaking his head again.

“He’s probably not even gay..” He muttered quietly, lowering his head. Zayn however pretty much pounced onto him from across the table, making the blonde jump a bit.

“He is so gay. So gay! He is the second gayest man I know, and the first already failed me, so Harry has to be gay.” Zayn felt Liam glance at him curiously from the side and so he smoothed his face for a moment, throwing in a casual “Louis, duh.” before he turned back towards Niall. He could still feel Liam frown in surprise at him from the side, but pushed the though to the side as Niall’s eyes grew sadder and sadder.

“Looks like your gaydar isn’t working properly then.” He suggested and Zayn shook his head again.

“No, Niall. I know Harry is gay and I also know that he’s crazy about you. Just believe for once, will you?” He almost begged and Niall looked a little thrown off by the earnestness in his voice.

“Fine.” Niall sighed, giving Zayn a dismissive look. “Let’s assume you’re right. Let’s assume Harry is gay and he likes me. Then why the hell doesn’t he say something?”

“Why the hell don’t you say something?” Zayn shot back, sitting up straighter in his chair, his entire body language reading that Niall had just proven his own point. The blonde looked back at him, his mouth hanging slightly open, his eyes expressionless but his brows furrowed. Liam was glancing back and forth between them, giving Niall a sympathetic smile.

“He has a point there.” He said carefully, nodding towards Zayn.

“No, he- He can’t like me. He just, he never looks at me and he always makes excuses not to come along to hang out. He doesn’t even talk to me.” Niall reasoned, biting his lip nervously as he dug his fingers in the material of his chair.

“Right, remind me of the last time you tried to engage Harry in a conversation.” Zayn said snidely and Liam chuckled lightly. “He behaves just like you do, and that’s because he’s fucking gone for you just like you are for him.”

Niall didn’t really know what to say back to that so he only sat in silence, trying hard not to glance at Zayn or Liam who only sat with him, keeping quiet themselves. He felt like the silence should have felt awkward but somehow it didn’t really. Liam and Zayn were watching him, he felt their gazes on his face, but their looks weren’t judging. They were casual and friendly and patient. Patiently waiting for him to see what they saw all along.

In a desperate move of surrender Niall threw his hands up, letting out a loud sigh and then knocking his head against the table where he let it rest as he heard the two boy across from him snicker.

“Alrighty.” Liam said with amusement still swinging in his voice. “Now that we’ve cleared that up I think we need to come up with a nice plan to get you two together.” He announced and Niall lifter his head at that.

“No, guys. Please don’t-”

“Oh yes!” Zayn exclaimed and Niall’s interjection went unnoticed. “You should fake being hurt and Harry can take care of you.”

“I really don’t think-”

“No, Zayn.” Liam said, shaking his head, ignoring Niall once again. “He’s good enough of a doctor to realize when Niall’s faking it.”

“I wasn’t going to-”

“Well.” Zayn had turned towards Liam now, ignoring Niall for good. “He could just really get hurt. Nothing major I suppose. But what do you reckon would give him a good hour with Harry?”

“I’m not purposely hurting myself, I-”

“We have to make it look like an accident or else Harry’s gonna get suspicious. Maybe during sports? What do you think about a good match of football, Niall?” For the first time ever since the start of the conversation Liam and Zayn turned their attention towards Niall who was fuming with anger.

“Fuck you. Both of you.”

“You don’t like the idea.” Zayn concluded and Niall rolled his eyes at him.

“Captain Obvious strikes again.” He mumbled, ignoring the way Zayn waved his hand dismissively at him in response.

“Well, let’s go for something a little more.. normal? Like, a double date maybe? How does that sound?” Liam interjected, trying to appease the blonde’s raging mood.

“If you’re thinking I’m going to ask him to go on a date with me.. well then you’re wrong.” Niall bit back.

“You don’t have to tell him it’s a date. Just ask him to come hang out with us.”

“Because that’s been working so great in the past.” Niall mumbled, remembering the number of times that Liam had invited Harry to come and in the end he never showed up or had to leave right away again.

“It’ll be different this time.” Zayn promised. “I’ll ask him. Let’s say.. Saturday? Lunch maybe? Or a picnic at the park? That’d be romantic.”


	14. Chapter Thirteen

„Doctor! Doctor! I’m in desperate need for help!“ Zayn exclaimed laughing as he chased down the hallway of the hospital after Harry. The curly haired doctor didn’t even turn around and only flipped Zayn off over his shoulder.

“For fuck’s sake Zayn, stop calling me that.” He pleaded, still not looking up at the man who had finally caught up with him and was now walking next to him, his rapid breathing slowing down.

“Sorry, _Dr. Styles_.” He said, flashing a wide smile and Harry only rolled his eyes at him.

“Leave me alone.”

“No, wait.” Zayn chipped, gripping Harry’s arm and pulling him back from the elevator he was about to get on. “I actually do need your help.”

The doctor gave him an unsure look and studied his eyes for a moment before he let out a heavy sigh and ran a hand through his hair. “Fine, what do you want Zayn?”

“Come hang out with me Saturday, yeah?”

“Zayn.” Harry let out in annoyance, pressing the call button for the elevator repeatedly. “You could’ve just texted me about that. Stop being stupid.”

“So you’re going?” The other boy asked back, sounding a little too eager in Harry’s eyes.

“What if I’m not?”

And Zayn seemed to realize that he was acting out of character so shrugged quickly, masking his face with a look of total indifference. “Well, I mean. We haven’t done anything together in like forever, so..”

“We’ve never done anything together just the two of us.” Harry corrected, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.

“See!” Zayn exclaimed. “So it’s time we do. You’re on for Saturday. We’re doing lunch.”

“Fine, whatever.” Harry muttered, glancing at the display above the elevator that read that it was only two stories lower now. “Any special occasion?”

“Nope.” Zayn said again with a shrug as the elevator let out a small rattling sound and the doors opened. Harry got on it and glanced back at Zayn.

“Saturday.” Zayn said with a mock salute and Harry nodded.

“Saturday.”

~

Zayn called Harry on Friday to make sure they were still on for Saturday. Harry told him “yes, for God’s sake” and slowly started wondering why Zayn kept thinking he was going to call the whole thing off last minute. Or why it was so important that he didn’t do it.

But he didn’t have much time thinking about it with work going on and Niall probably being somewhere around the hospital. Harry had come to the conclusion that avoiding him was his best option, even though he loved to stare at the blond angel at work, watching his strong arms flex as he transferred patients or his face light up when the nurses greeted him. He was just too adorable and too perfect for Harry to comprehend. But he also distracted Harry (which, well, Harry didn’t mind, but the patients did and so did his coworkers, so there was that). And worst of all, he looked back. He looked back at Harry with big curious blue eyes, staring him down and making him squirm and Harry couldn’t handle that.

So as much as he hated it.. he had to avoid Niall.

Eventually Saturday came around and in a way Harry was glad he didn’t have to work that day and he didn’t have to spend the day worrying about seeing or not seeing Niall. It all just got a little exhausting. And with that in mind he even managed to suppress the disappointment he felt over the fact that he was definitely not going to get to glance at the blond boy. It was just ups and downs all day long.

Zayn called him again on Saturday morning and Harry was about to tell him if he asked one more time whether they were still on that he’d cancel, when Zayn offered him a ride.

“Oh.” Harry replied in surprise, gripping the phone tightly in his hand. “Erm.. sure. Yeah.” He added after a long pause, when his brain finally kicked back in. “Okay, yes.”

“Alright.” Zayn said with a chuckle. “I’ll be there in like an hour?” And then he hung up.

Exactly an hour later Zayn showed up, grinning widely at Harry. The younger boy suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at the expression on Zayn’s face and only let him in, telling him to make himself a home while Harry finished up quickly.

“I hope you haven’t eaten yet.” Zayn said when Harry returned, his hands still caught in his hair, running through it and styling it to the side.

“Er, no.” Harry replied and then followed Zayn’s gaze towards the take away boxes on the kitchen isle. “Those are from last night.” He admitted, blushing lightly and then going to out away the mess he had left the previous night before going to bed.

“Good.” Zayn said with a happy smile and Harry shot him a quick look over his shoulder before he put some silverware in the sink to wash later.

“We’re going for a picnic.” Zayn announced and Harry threw him another look, a little more incredulous.

“Okay.” He said tentatively. Since when did friends do casual picnics in the park? Well. “Did you bring anything to eat then?” He questioned further, looking at Zayn’s empty hands.

“Oh no. Liam and Niall bring the- Erm. I mean, no, yes. _Harry_.” He added in the end when the younger boy had turned around, looking at his friend sternly.

“Liam and Niall what?”

“Nothing, I didn’t say anything. “ Zayn said hastily, motioning to seal his lips with an invisible key.

“What?” Harry prompted again. “Zayn, tell me what it is.” The older boy only shook his head forcefully, crossing his arms in front of his chest in defense. “I’m not going if you won’t tell me.” Harry sad simply, crossing his as well and leaning back against the counter, fixing Zayn with a glare.

“No, Harry.” Zayn said, almost pleading now. “Let’s just go. Forget I said anything.”

“Is Liam coming?” Harry asked, ignoring what Zayn had said completely.

“I- He-.. yes.” He admitted after a while, biting down onto his lip nervously.

“Is Niall going?”

“Harry, it’s really just-”

“ _Is_ Niall going?”

“I.. I may have asked him. I mean it’s not like- No, _Harry_!” Zayn exclaimed again, running after his friend who had left the kitchen walking into his bedroom now and slamming the door shut in front of Zayn’s face.

“Harry, please.” Zayn yelled through the closed door. “I don’t know what your problem is. It’s just a casual picnic between colleagues.”

And that alone just sounded so wrong already that Harry couldn’t help but snort and Zayn tentatively pushed the door open a tiny bit to glance at Harry who was laying on the bed, his gaze fixed at the ceiling.

“Come on, Harry.” Zayn said again, quieter now.

“Zayn, it’s going to be fucking awkward. You and Liam are fucking. And Niall and I.. are not. It’s just.. bound to be weird.”

“Nonsense.” Zayn protested, stepping closer now and sitting on the edge of Harry’s bed. “I _know_ you like him and even though you won’t be believe me I also _know_ that he likes you. So get a grip and let’s go.”

“Just for the record,” Harry grumbled angrily as he let Zayn pull him off the bed. “I don’t _like_ like Niall. And he doesn’t like me either.”

“Let’s go.” Zayn said, ignoring Harry. “Insufferable twat.”

~

On the way to the park in town Zayn actually managed to convince Harry that hanging out with Liam and Niall wasn’t all that bad. Harry made him swear that it wasn’t a setup and that it wasn’t a double date and Zayn agreed teeth-gnashingly. He only felt slightly bad about lying to his friend, considering that Harry wasn’t going to find out about the truth anyways.

“Well, no problem then.” Harry muttered as they got out of the car again upon reaching the park. “No date, no setup. Just hanging out.” He emphasized and Zayn almost felt like his friend was teasing him on purpose, but only nodded mutely as he dragged Harry along a gravel path, closer to the pond where he and Liam had agreed to meet.

Zayn spotted his boyfriend first, lying on a blanket, Niall’s blond messy fringe next to him, both gazing up at the sky.

“Lee-yum!” Zayn exclaimed, as he leaped into his boyfriend’s lap, making him huff and groan. Harry only giggled at the shocked expression on Liam’s face before he let his gaze wander towards Niall’s bemused expression. The paramedic was beaming at his two friends who were now engaged in a playful fight and it was hard to tell whether they were kissing or battling.

His gaze traveled up finally and met Harry’s. They stared at each other for a moment, before Harry decided to finally “get a grip” as Zayn had put it.

“Hey.” He said softly, and maybe a little less confident than he would have liked to, but Niall shot him back a wide satisfied grin so Harry couldn’t really be bothered.

“Here.” Niall said, scooting back a little. “You can sit on my side of the blanket. While _those two_ are busy biting their heads off.” He added loudly in the end, but Zayn and Liam looked like they really couldn’t care any less and Harry only chuckled at them and then sat down next to Niall, trying not to interpret anything into their conversation or Niall’s offer. After all this was just a casual picnic among colleges. Zayn himself had said it.

Expect right now Zayn wasn’t all that _casual_ with Liam, so maybe that was kind of a lie. Kind of a lot, Harry assumed when Liam and Zayn finally stopped kissing, but Zayn placed himself in between Liam’s legs, leaning back against his front to at least pretend to include Harry and Niall. There was an effort, at least.

It turned out that Liam and Niall really brought food and so ten minutes later they were passing around bowls and handing out drinks. Liam and Zayn refused to use separate plates _or_ cups and ended up in a disgustingly sweet argument about what to eat first and what to drink. Niall and Harry watched and Harry was kind of glad that the two were making such a big entertaining mess, so he and Niall didn’t _really_ have to engage in any conversation.

In the end Liam had to push Zayn off his lap and scoot away a couple of feet to ensure that the both of them behaved at least the slightest bit and didn’t get inappropriate with kids and families in the park around them.

“So, how’s everyone’s work?” Zayn asked, putting an end to Liam’s lingering looks and Niall’s constant annoyed huffs.

“People keep being stupid.” Niall said with a shrug. “So we keep being busy, right?”

Harry bit his lip, trying to suppress a laugh or saying something stupid or pouncing right at Niall, because he was just stupidly perfect and funny and absolutely beautiful with his pale skin glistening in the sun.

Niall turned to Harry with an expecting glance and Harry wasn’t really sure what he wanted to hear so he only nodded. “You’re beautiful every day and I love you.” he wanted to say, but instead he went for “Haven’t killed anyone in a full week.”

“Impressive.” Zayn said lamely, oblivious to what a big deal that was to Harry. Liam and Niall however understand what it meant to him and gave him thumbs up, Niall even touching his ankle lightly in encouragement, but then drawing his hand back again with a light smile. Almost instinctively Harry pushed his ankle towards Niall again, trying to encourage the touch, but Niall must have misinterpreted the gesture and withdrew his hand completely.

When he looked back up Liam was announcing in how long he hadn’t killed anyone and Zayn was throwing himself right at him, attaching their lips and snogging the living hell out of him right there and then.

“He’s a bloody _orthopedist_.” Niall mumbled grimly, and Harry sniggered quietly, turning his face away to hide his amusement. When he turned back Zayn and Liam were still kissing and it started getting a little awkward. He couldn’t look at them, but he also couldn’t look at Niall so his eyes were fixed on the ground, watching as his fingers picked on a loose threat in the blanket.

“Okay.” Niall sighed after a while and when Harry looked up their gazes met and Niall rolled his eyes at Liam and Zayn dramatically. Harry laughed and nodded, biting his lip again and trying (and failing) really hard not to blush helplessly.

“Awkward.” Niall mouthed and Harry really thought that would have pulled Zayn and Liam back into reality, but they seemed way too lost in their little world.

“Right. It’s like those double dates in high school where your friends set you up.” He said with a smirk and Niall seemed to pale a tiny bit. “Would be so much more awkward if you were gay too, I mean.. and like. Into me. Too.”

“Come again?” Niall asked, his eyes growing big and Harry blinked back at him. Did he just admit that he was gay _and_ into Niall? _Classic_.

“Er, nothing.”

“Did you just say you were into me?”

“I, eh..” Harry trailed off. The bright sparkle in Niall’s eyes was really fucking distracting. “Maybe.”

“You little shit.” Niall gasped before latching on to Harry, tipping him over with the force of his pounce and they both fell back onto the grass, Niall on top of Harry, his hands pressing against his chest.

Harry gazed up at the paramedic in shock and wonder. “Wha-?” He began to ask, but was interrupted when Niall’s lips were pressing against his own, quieting him down effectively. It took him a second to realize what was going on and to respond even longer, and Niall was pulling back before Harry really got a chance to react. Niall was pushing himself up now, one hand pressed against the ground next to Harry’s head to create distance between them. He only got a couple of inches though before Harry’s hand snatched up, gripping Niall’s neck and pulling him back down in another forceful kiss and Niall let out a little squeal of surprise that soon turned into a satisfied hum when Harry pressed his tongue against Niall’s lips.

They kept kissing for a while and only pulled away to gasp for air. Niall placed both his hands on the sides of Harry’s head now, propping himself up to let his face linger inches above Harry’s as they gazed at each other happily.

“Well..” Somebody said from the side and they turned to look at Liam and Zayn who were grinning at them. Zayn’s smirk was smug and absolutely shit-eating. “Took you long enough.”

“Go to hell.” Niall muttered affectionately, before dipping down to peck Harry’s lips quickly.

“I mean, I don’t wanna be all like ‘I told you’, but well.. _I told you._ ” Liam added and this time it was Harry’s turn to roll his eyes.

“Right, now shut up.”

“Hey.” Zayn protested. “Don’t talk to my boyfriend like that.”

“Well, don’t talk to _my_ boyfriend like that.” Niall shot back, freezing only a little after the words were out of his mouth. He turned his head to look at Harry, who was kind of only staring back at him. Were they boyfriends?

“Oh, _please_. Just get it over with, you’re officially dating as of now.” Zayn exclaimed with a sigh and Harry’s lips tugged up a little at the ridiculousness of the moment.

“Yeah?” Niall breathed hopefully and Harry could rather feel than hear the words against his skin.

“Yeah.” He agreed with a stupidly wide smile and a stupidly rapid beating heart in his chest as Niall pressed another chaste kiss onto his lips. When he pulled back Harry fixed Niall with his eyes, looking for uncertainty and fear, but all he good was that _stupid_ sparkle from before. Now however, he felt confident enough to take it as happiness and only grinned back widely.

They didn’t know who started, but they ended up laughing. Laughing so hard Niall collapsed on top of Harry and laid on his chest. Laughing so hard Liam and Zayn joined a moment later, holding their stomachs and shaking their heads.

“You two-” Liam gasped out between laughs “are really something.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE READ!
> 
> According to my initial plan this was the last chapter. I’d round it up with the Epilogue and then be done. The question now would be if you’d like me to continue. I personally think I write better quality oneshots than chaptered stories, but it’s up to you I suppose.
> 
> If you want me to continue, please also leave suggestions on what further chapteres could be about. I’m kind of lost, so.. yeah.
> 
> Also, I’m gonna be gone for a couple of days. In case the fandom breaks down, Larry comes out or Niall dies please be so kind as to shoot me a quick message. Thanks. xx


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah. On popular demand I’m continuing.. But it’s all just kind of filling chapters now.

On Monday morning Harry felt a little weird as he made his way to the hospital. Not necessarily bad weird, but not really the good kind either. Something in his stomach felt heavy and his brain seemed to be more tired and exhausted than usually.

He had successfully avoided Gemma all morning and now all that was left to do was to skip past the mirrors in the locker room without having to glance at himself. Judging from how heavy his eyes felt he figured he wasn’t looking all that peachy this morning.

“You look like shit, mate.” Louis greeted him as he tried to pass his desk without being noticed.

“Thanks.” Harry grumbled back, making his way to the locker room with a frown on his face.

In the end he couldn’t help but glance at the mirror for a short moment and fix his hair as best as he could before walking back to the nurses’ desk where he meant to grab his working schedule for the week and disappear right away again. Louis however, had different plans.

“You alright?” He wanted to know as Harry glanced down at the paper in his hand.

“Hmm.” Harry hummed, not glancing up at the nurse. “Feeling a little under the weather, I suppose.”

“Oh.” Louis replied glancing at the paper in Harry’s hand quickly and then at the one he was holding in his own. “You’re covering the pit today, but I could switch some things up if you’d rather be here?” He offered and Harry sent him a thankful smile.

“It’s alright.” He waved off though, checking his phone and then his pager.

“You sure you’re alright?” Louis asked again, making Harry glance up at him.

“Yeah.”

“Anything you.. wanna tell me?”

“Hmm?” The look in Louis’ eyes made Harry wonder what exactly the nurse was after. There was nothing to tell.. unless- unless somebody had told Louis about Saturday, because yeah- _There’s_ _something_.

“Like.. I don’t know. How’s your paramedic?”

And okay, Louis _definitely_ knew. But Harry wasn’t going to give him that satisfaction.

“Good. I think.” He replied lightly and Louis quirked an eyebrow at him.

“So..?”

“So nothing.” Harry shrugged and Louis looked somewhere in between confused and irritated. And Harry took this as his cue to leave. He grabbed his schedule and stuffed it in his pocket, just about ready to leave when a familiar arm sneaked around his waist and he was pulled back.

“Hello there.” A low voice mumbled into his ear as Harry stumbled back a bit and hit Niall’s chest with his back.

“It’s the paramedic!” Louis exclaimed with an excited look on his face and Harry meant to glare at him, but Niall was pressing a kiss against his cheek now and it didn’t seem all that bad anymore. What was _it_ anyways? It all seemed forgotten and unimportant with Niall’s skin against his and their hands tangling together in front of Harry’s body.

“You good?” Niall asked lowly and an involuntary smile spread across Harry’s lips.

“Yeah. Now. You?”

“Pretty good myself.” The blonde replied with a smile and Harry didn’t have to try hard to ignore the obscene comments Louis was making from across his desk. Niall glanced at him quickly and shortly afterwards the nurse packed his papers, huffed in annoyance and then disappeared.

“I have two things for you.” Niall said, a little more loudly this time and setting his hands on Harry’s hips, turning him around until they were facing each other. “A question and a present. We’re starting with the question.”

“O-Okay.” Harry replied quickly, trying not to sound as desperate as he felt. Something about Niall just made him want to hold him all day and never let him go again. Someone as small as Niall might get lost in the big scary world; someone as fragile, tiny, blond-

“So,” Niall started, effectively stopping Harry’s thoughts from running wild. “The question. I was wondering.. if you’d let me take you out for dinner? Tonight?”

Harry waited for a moment, only staring at Niall. He waited for something more, something actually worth asking for. Because, well, it sure wasn’t like Harry to deny Niall anything, much less to take him out on a date.

“Yes. Duh. Sure.” Harry replied quickly after he figured he had waited almost too long and Niall had started chewing on his bottom lip nervously.

“Okay.” Niall said with an incredibly wide grin and he sounded just _so_ relieved. Harry wanted to tell him that he was crazy about him and that he was never going to say no to anything Niall wanted him to do, but Niall was talking again already so Harry decided to put it off to another time. “So.. the present now.”

“Yeah?” Harry was unable to hide his eagerness this time around, but Niall’s eyes were only sparkling even brighter than before so Harry really didn’t think Niall minded. The silence dragged on for a moment and Harry let his eyes wander down Niall’s body to his hands and found them both empty. He searched the boy’s pockets with his eyes, but couldn’t find anything suspicious.

When his eyes wandered up again they met Niall’s and the blonde was grinning widely, his eyes crinkling by the sides.

“It’s not here.” He said, sounding fairly amused.

“Well.. where is it?” Harry asked back as the pause dragged on.

“Downstairs. In the ER. I hear you’re covering today anyways?”

“Yeah?!” Harry replied timidly. A present in the emergency room? Splattered with blood or what?

“You might wanna scrub.” Niall said with a wink, before grabbing Harry’s hand and tugging him along towards the elevators. They waited in silence, but Harry’s brain was working feverishly going through all the different options he could come up with for his present to be in the ER. Niall was only glancing back at him happily, looking mostly excited and fired up so Harry tried not to get too nervous or worked up over this.

“Here.” Niall said as they stepped out of the elevator again, handing Harry a bottle of sanitizers and a pair of disposable gloves.

“Niall?” Harry asked back, eying the few things in his hands suspiciously. Did he maybe really have to worry about what to find upon entering the emergency room?

“It’s okay, babe.” Niall waved off, urging him to sanitize his hands and put the gloves on. Harry followed his instructions rather wordlessly, a little caught up on the word ‘babe’ and the easiness with which it had fallen from Niall’s lips. _Okay_ , so they were doing pet names now.

His hands sanitized and wrapped in gloves Harry followed Niall the last couple of steps into the emergency room, immediately glancing around curiously. Though he didn’t even know what he was looking for. A gigantic wrapped box with a colorful bow on top? Probably not.

“Here.” Niall said quietly, pulling Harry with him to the end of the room where a door led them into another room, one of the patients’ rooms.

“Niall, what-?” Harry started, looking around the empty room in confusion.

“This,” Niall interrupted him “is my present to you.” He handed him a chart.

“Paperwork yey.” Harry said tonelessly and Niall only rolled his eyes at him.

“It’s the chart of my neighbor’s daughter. She’s eight and she had a really, _really_ rare tumor in her lungs. I may have told the family that you are the greatest doctor in this hospital so they’re coming to see _you_.”

“I-”

“And they want _you_ to operate on this tumor. Have I mentioned how _rare_ it is? You may thank me now.”

“Niall.. your gift.. is a _patient_?”

“ _With_ a really rare tumor.”

“I-” Harry started, not really sure what to say. He glanced down at the gloves that had just gone to waste, because Niall clearly only made him put them on for show and then at the chart and- _holy shit_. That was a _rare_ tumor! He had only heard of a couple of them in the entire country before and Harry was only at the beginning of his career and-

“Don’t you think that’s a kind of cruel present?”

Niall only shrugged. “I know you love it, so..” He said with a smirk and Harry had to turn his head to hide the fond smile that appeared on his lips. _For God’s sake_.

“You are.. really, _really_ evil.” Harry said, hitting Niall chest with the patient’s chart lightly. “Thank you.” He added, stepping closer and pressing a quick kiss onto Niall’s lips.

“Well.” Niall said with a mock pout as Harry pulled away. “I find you the greatest gift a surgeon can be made and all I get is one measly peck?”

“Somebody’s demanding.” Harry said with a laugh, leaning closer towards Niall again, their lips only inches apart. “Greedy.” He added, moving in even closer, their lips barely touching now. “Learn to control yourself. I’m already letting you take me out or dinner.”

Niall leaned in to kiss Harry for real this time, but Harry turned his head in the last moment, pressing a quick kiss on Niall’s cheek before stepping away again, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Tease.” Niall said with a crooked grin.

“ _That_ ’s not teasing.” Harry said fondly, stepping closer again. “Teasing would be to tell you start thinking about all the things we could do.. _after_ dinner tonight.” He spoke, his lips ghosting over the shell of Niall’s ear, before he pulled away, winking at him and then taking the chart making to leave the room.

“Fucking _tease_!” He heard an angry Irish accent yell after him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. Unless the world flips upside down the next chapter will be their date. And the after the date. But if you do have any more ideas, they're very welcome!! xx


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is really random and idk. It’s what you get when I don’t have a plan of what I’m writing. It’s so dirty in the begining. #SorryNotSorry

„Have you already read the chart?“ Was the first thing Niall asked after Harry and him had taken their seats in an expensive restaurant down town. Harry glanced at him in confusion before lowering his eyes back onto the menu in his hands.

“Charlotte’s chart.” Niall explained. “My neighbor’s daughter? The lung tumor?”

“Oh yeah.” Harry remembered, still not looking up from his menu. “I took a look, but haven’t really..” He trailed off slowly, focusing on the menu and Niall only sat across from him, watching slightly amused as Harry lifted his head eventually, blinking in confusion. “What was I saying?”

Niall only laughed and waved it off. “Probably not best to talk about work on our first date anyways.”

“Right.” Harry agreed, blushing lightly.

“So what’s so fascinating on the menu that made you forget the tumor you promised me sexual favors for earlier today.” Niall teased and Harry was definitely blushing now.

“I don’t think that’s quite how the conversation went.”

“Must’ve been a misunderstanding.” Niall replied with a wide grin. Harry stared at him with his mouth half open for a moment before he fondly rolled his eyes at the boy across from him.

“I hear they have pretty good casseroles here.” Harry said cheerily, determinedly changing the topic.

“I hear they have decent wieners too.” Niall replied just as cheerily. The glint in his eyes made Harry chock on air, coughing with his eyes wide open.

“I don’t think I wanna try those.” He managed and Niall kept smirking at him.

“Alright. Might as well save them for later. I think I have some at home in case you get hungry for a wiener.”

“Seriously, Niall.” Harry gasped, his cheeks and neck a deep shade of red now, while Niall sat across from him looking completely unfazed. That was, other than the evil smirk on his face.

“Yes, dear?” He asked sweetly and something about the shine in his eyes was positively too innocent and arousing at the same time for the conversation they were having.

“I liked you better when you were shy and quiet.” Harry shot, making Niall laugh.

“No, you didn’t. Don’t even lie to yourself. Or _me_ for that matter.” He added, cocking his head to the side innocently all while letting his food travel up Harry’s calve underneath the table.

“This is not what I signed up for.” Harry muttered breathlessly, trying to hide his blush behind the menu while still looking for a way to hide the growing bulge in his trousers. Scooting closer towards the table would be one option, the table cloth was long enough to cover his legs – as well as other _things_ – but scooting closer towards the table also meant scooting closer towards Niall and that kind of wasn’t an option right now; as much as Harry might have wanted to.

“Are you two ready to order?” A passing waitress asked and Harry wanted to hug and kiss her for the interruption.

“Heck, yes.” He answered still feeling a little breathless. He didn’t need to glance at Niall to see him snicker quietly into his menu. Though he couldn’t help but feel relieved when Niall dropped his foot as Harry told the waitress his order. She scribbled down onto her notepad and Harry tried to scoot around in his chair unsuspiciously while adjusting his trousers. He may have had have luck with the waitress, but Niall noticed. Of course he did.

“I’ll have the wieners.” Niall said coyly looking up at the waitress. “Make sure they’re long, yeah? I like them long.”

And Oh. My. _God_.

Harry was positively chocking on his drink, praying to God that the waitress didn’t notice. He didn’t dare looking up at her, but a moment later she was gone and Niall was again busy playing footsie with Harry under the table.

“Hey,” He whispered suspiciously and Harry lifted his head to gaze at him slowly. “What if I told you.. that drink won’t be the only thing you’re chocking on tonight?”

~

“I positively hate you. _Loath_ you.” Harry said as they left the restaurant. Niall had his arm wound around the taller boy’s waist, snickering quietly as they walked. “If you think I’m _ever_ going to go to dinner with you again, you’re terribly wrong!”

“Shh, darling.”

“Or do _anything_ in public with you. You’re a right beast.”

“Sex beast.”

“You’re doing it again!”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, you’re not.”

“No, I’m not.” Niall replied with a smirk. Harry had his arms crossed in front of his chest and a lovely pout plastered across his lips. “It doesn’t matter though, babe, because I know you love it.”

“I don’t-” Harry began to protest, but shut up when Niall twirled him around in his arms so they were chest to chest, Niall’s thigh pressing up against Harry’s crotch and okay. Okay, he was hard. So what, sew him.

“Yes, you do.” Niall whispered almost sensually and Harry couldn’t help the goosebumps prickling on the skin of his arms and chest.

“Fine.” He agreed with a soft breath and let Niall pull him down to press their lips together gently.

“You’re coming to mine then? For.. a nightcap, you know?” Niall offered, his hands still linked together behind Harry’s neck playing with the short curls as they stared into each other’s eyes.

“I don’t kiss on the first date.” Was Harry’s reply and- yeah okay. That didn’t make any sense. Niall seemed to think so too and only snickered quietly, nudging their noses together softly and then letting his lips ghost over Harry’s until the taller boy gave in and closed the distance between them. The kissed for a while and as Niall’s tongue carefully nudged against Harry’s lips, beckoning them to open, Harry thought he was almost ready to forgive Niall his ungodly behavior in the restaurant earlier.

“Now,” Niall said lowly after a while as they pulled back. “Since we already broke your rule..” He started, letting the words trail off as he took Harry’s hand and pulled him with him towards his car. He opened the passenger door and held it open for Harry, and the younger boy wanted to make a funny remark, tell Niall how classy cheesy he was being, but since the blonde was busy slapping Harry’s bum as he got it, the words got kind of stuck in his throat and that was that.

No funny remark. No cheeky comment. No conversation at all actually on the ride to Niall’s flat. Harry was thankful for a few minutes to himself and so he spend the car ride torn between gazing the the streets passing outside or staring at Niall’s beautiful profile instead. He decided on the ladder, at least until Niall had caught him staring more than a few times and figured it’d just be easier to look out the window – or watch Niall’s reflection on the window. But Niall didn’t need to know that.

When they got to the flat Niall parked his car and they both got out. Harry glanced up and down the road, trying to take in the neighborhood and the facade of the house in the darkness. Niall came walking up to him and wound his arm around Harry’s hips slowly, giving him a soft hum.

“It’s really quiet.” Harry commented, because they hadn’t been driving for long and so he figured they were still in London. Up and down the road no car was to be seen which was a rarity in a city as big as London.

“Should be, for the amount of money I pay to live here.” Niall commented quietly, a soft smile tugging on his lips. Harry smiled back and then let Niall pull him towards the front door of the nearest building, fiddling with his keys for a moment, before they stumbled.

The building was old and had tall walls. And no lift. Harry prayed that Niall didn’t live all the way up in the highest floor, because judging from the outside there were at least five.

“Here.” Niall muttered, as soon as they reached the second floor and Harry thought okay. Second floor, he could do this. Could have been a lot worse after all.

They stumbled into the hallway and Niall took his jacket, hanging them both on hangers, before kicking off his shoes and motioning for Harry to do so as well. He then led their way into the kitchen, digging through his cabinets as soon as they got there.

“Okay, so. I have tea, wine, beer. Could probably find some soda or old whiskey in the pantry?”

“Um, just tea. Is fine.” Harry said quickly, before Niall could go to look for anything else.

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

And so Harry took a seat on the kitchen isle and watched as Niall filled the kettle and started making tea.

“Milk and sugar?” He asked, with a quick glance over his shoulder.

“Yes, please.”

And as he sat and watched, Harry started to wonder if maybe Niall had really meant a _nightcap_ when he had said a _nightcap_. Not that he felt necessarily disappointed, the evening had just taken a whole other turn.

_Or so he thought._

That was until Niall turned around with two steaming mugs of tea in his hands, a mischievous grin plastered across his face.

“So. Bedroom, or what?” He prompted and Harry stared at him in confusion. Tea in bed? Not the kind of foreplay Harry usually went for, but okay. If that’s what Niall wanted.

“Your face!” Niall exclaimed after a moment, laughter bubbling out of his mouth and the tea in the mugs swaying dangerously. “I’m just messing with you. Come on, living room. Let’s go.” And then he shuffled away, leaving Harry to stare into the air for a moment, before jumping up and dashing after him.

Niall took a seat on his couch and patted the area next to him for Harry to sit down as well. Harry sat and watched Niall set down the mugs on the coffee table, before wrapping both arms around his middle and pulling Harry almost onto his lap. The older boy giggled a little as Harry twisted in his arms, rearranging his legs underneath him until they found a comfortable position. Harry hid his face in Niall’s neck, closing his eyes for a moment and enjoying the warmth radiating from the blonde’s body.

“Are we good?” Niall asked quietly after a while, pulling back lightly, so Harry’s face wasn’t resting against his neck anymore. Their eyes met and Harry was surprised by the earnestness in Niall’s eyes. He was still looking down at him, waiting for an answer.

“Yes.” Harry breathed, snuggling closer to Niall again and nudging his nose against his throat.

“You’re not mad?”

“Not a lot.”

They sat in silence for a while. Harry felt Niall’s calm breathing against his hair and thought back to what he meant to tell Niall earlier that day. How crazy he was about him and how close he felt to him, even after knowing him for such short time. A very, _very_ short time actually Harry thought, considering that they didn’t dare talking to each other for the better part of the time that they had known each other. Looking back now he did see that they had been a little ridiculous. Maybe.

And now, sitting pretty much on Niall’s lap, with his face buried against his neck, his lips pressed against Niall’s warm and comforting skin, Harry felt the overwhelming need to share that feeling. With Niall. To tell him how grate he was and how fuzzy he made Harry feel on the inside. But Harry had never felt something like this before, never gotten close to share with someone about how exactly he felt. So how did he do it? He couldn’t just say ”Hey Niall, by the way, when you hold me close like this everything gets really warm and fuzzy in my brain”. That’s just.. It didn’t work like that.

It felt impossible already to come up with the right words in his head alone so how on earth was Harry supposed to say out loud what-

“Harry?”

“What?” The younger boy asked, shifting in Niall’s lap and pulling back to look at him. Had he said anything? Had he possibly said out loud what was going on in his brain? Oh God, what if Niall-

“I, err-” The blonde hesitated, looking down at his hands. Okay, so maybe this wasn’t about something Harry had said. “I mean, I know you said you weren’t really mad at me, but..” He trailed off for a moment and oh. _Oh_. That’s what this is about.

“I mean, I was just teasing. And, and you were doing the same thing this morning and I’m really sorry if I made you uncomfortable.” He said gently, his eyes still lowered. A soft smile spread across Harry’s lips.

“I know.” He replied, pressing a kiss on the underside of Niall’s jaw. “You just..” make me feel different? Special? Loved? Warm and fuzzy? Right now would be a good time to mention it. It would soothe Niall and maybe round up the evening nicely. He just had to say it.

But no. He couldn’t.

“You just make me flustered.” Harry said with a shrug, feeling disappointed with himself as he pressed another kiss onto Niall’s jaw and then the corner of his lips.

“Okay.”

“Yeah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are very much appreciated. xx


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't proof read......

It was almost two weeks later and Harry was running late for his shift yet again, because a certain Irish paramedic had a hard time letting his new sleeping partner go in the mornings. Even if he had the early shift. Chief Cowell didn’t like it, he had said so many a times and so Harry was ducking his head now as he crept past his office.

“Harry!” Louis called loudly from his front desk, startling the boy who almost fell over his own feet.

“Jeez, Louis.” He complained, adjusting his white coat as he neared the desk.

“You have an appointment this morning.” The nurse said and Harry pulled his eyebrows up expectantly. “It’s a little girl with a lung tumor and her parents asked specifically for _you_.” and continued and oh yeah. Harry remembered. Niall’s neighbors. His gift.

“They’re in the waiting area on the second floor. I booked room B17 for you.”

“Thanks, Lou.” Harry said with a smile and picked up the next to empty patient chart before making his way downstairs.

~

Almost an hour later Harry shook hands with Charlotte’s parents again and ruffled through the little girl’s hair one last time before sending them all off to get some new scans done. The girl was smiling shyly, turning to hide her face in her mother’s stomach and Harry thought it was plain adorable.

As they walked away Harry couldn’t help but grin widely, thinking about the great treatment plan already forming in his head. His next patient was up on the third floor, but he told himself that he really needed to stop by in the ER. And that was totally not catch a glimpse at his super hot boyfriend who also was the reason for this great tumor he got to treat.

When he got to the emergency room he lingered around for a bit, chatting with Lou and other nurses as he tried to look not too out of place. Fortunately only a couple minutes later the doors of the ER opened and a stretcher pushed by three paramedics came rolling in.

“Oh, hey.” Niall greeted Harry with a little surprise as he let go of the stretcher and watched as his colleges walked away.

“Don’t you need to go with them?” Harry asked, eying the man laying on the stretcher and squirming in pain.

“I thought you weren’t working the pit today?” Niall only asked back and Harry’s gaze slowly traveled back to boyfriend.

“I’m not.” He said quickly, tugging Niall to the side so they weren’t standing in the way as he slowly wrapped his fingers around his waist. “I was looking for you actually.”

“Oh yeah?” Niall asked back, leaning into the touch and smirking widely up the boy across from him.

“Yes. I don’t think I ever really thanked you for that _great_ gift you made me.”

“Charlotte?”

“Her tumor.” Harry corrected, because well everything else felt kind of morbid. And maybe pedophile. And straight – _ugh_. “I spoke with her and her parents this morning. It’s really- It’s a great case. Thank you.” He pressed a small peck on Niall’s lips and blonde’s eyes only widened.

“You’re welcome.”

“So,” Harry began, pressing another quick kiss to Niall’s lips, but pulling back before Niall could deepen it. “Are we still on for tonight?”

“I think we should just skip tonight and go have sex at my place instead.”

“I don’t think so.” Harry replied with a laugh, pushing Niall’s arm in fake horror. “We should go to dinner with our good friends, like normal people do.”

“We’re not normal.”

“We try to be.”

“Not tonight.”

“Yes, _tonight_.”

“Sex afterwards?” Niall asked, his eyes growing big and innocent. Harry only laughed at him.

“Fine, you Irish sexmoster. Will you ever be satisfied?”

“ _Never_.” He replied with a smug grin and okay. What else should he have been expecting?

~

Around the same time Zayn was hanging out at his own flat, zapping through different TV channels in boredom. He knew he should be cleaning the place or at least tidying it up a little bit, but well. There were so many other things he’d rather do.

His boyfriend giving him call only came in convenient.

“Hey babe.” Zayn greeted brightly.

“Zaynie, are you doing what you’re supposed to do?” Liam asked, but from the amusement swinging in his voice Zayn already knew Liam knew he wasn’t doing shit.

“What do you think?”

“Yeah.” Liam replied with a laugh. “That’s what I thought.. So, erm. Listen. Are you free tonight?”

“For you always, dear.”

“Great, because Nick invited us to dinner.”

“Nick..?” Zayn asked, silently wondering if that was somebody he was supposed to know.

“Nick Grimshaw. Just a surgeon. A colleague.” For a short moment Zayn wondered whether they had met when he had been in the hospital with his skating accident, but he couldn’t really recall and only shook his head lightly as Liam blabbered on. “But Harry and Niall are gonna be there. And Louis.”

“Right, fine.” He agreed, not too excited about the whole deal, but he didn’t want to upset Liam.

~

Five hours later Zayn wished he had chosen to upset Liam instead of going out tonight. Apparently it was some kind of house warming dinner because Nick had just moved to a bigger flat together with his husband. Apparently he also had a child which only confused Zayn even more, because really what social worker would put a child’s life into the hands of _Nick Gimshaw_? A plastic surgeon none the less.

So he had been complaining all along from the moment he had come to the hospital and run into Louis up to the moment right now where they were standing by the front door, Liam ringing the door bell repeatedly.

Louis had seemed amused really, when Zayn told him about how much he didn’t want to go to the dinner party and suggested skipping the event altogether. Louis had only told him that for some reason he _had_ to be there and promised Zayn that the evening wouldn’t get too boring. Oh well.

Liam hadn’t been all that patient with him, scolding him for never wiping the frown off his face.

“Louis was a lot more understanding.” He muttered in frustration and Liam only gazed at him curiously as the door was pulled open and Nick greeted them with a wide smile.

“Well hello!” He chanted, not stepping back to let them in and swaying back and forth a bit. Zayn considered whether he was tipsy already, and _oh wow_ if the _host_ needed to be drunk to get through this dinner party and Zayn didn’t see this even ending well.

“We’ve been expecting you.” He continued, tugging on somebody’s sleeve. Until Louis tumbled into the frame and Nick pulled him close against his chest.

“Welcome to our new home.” Louis said with a sly smile and Liam only grinned back at them while Zayn watched in confusion. _Our_ new home?

Oh.

His eyes wandered down to Nick’s and Louis’ intertwined hands. And the matching rings. And the boy hugging Nick’s thigh. It’s the same boy that had been with Louis all those weeks ago. His son. Was also.. _Nick’s_ son? And Nick’s husband was.. _Louis_. Apparently. Wow. _Wow_.

The events from barely an hour ago came stumbling back into Zayn’s brain and okay. Suddenly it made sense that Louis kind of _had_ to be at the party and yeah. He said some not so nice things, so.. He meant to apologize, he really did. But Nick’s attention was demanded by the little boy and Louis was leading them inside, getting them drinks and chatting with other guests, so yeah. Zayn would have to do that later on.

“Are you okay?” Liam asked after a while of Zayn being unusually quiet.

“Yeah, I- You _knew_.. about Louis and Nick?” He asked back, sounding somewhat accusative.

“Oh, yes. I meant to tell you, but you were kind of fixed on the idea of Louis being straight. And I don’t know, you never brought it up afterwards. Sorry.”

“I hope he’s not upset.”

“Naah, I don’t think so.” Liam assured him, kissing him temple quickly with a smile dancing across his lips.

“What?” Zayn asked, eying his boy friend’s smile curiously.

“Nothing. It’s just.. amusing. You’re amusing.”

“You’re lying.” Zayn accused him and Liam let out a laugh. “And you’re stupid.”

“Oi.” Liam quipped, pushing Zayn playfully.

~

A little later that night after all the dinner had been eaten and some of the guests slowly started leaving again Niall grabbed two beers from the fridge and took Harry by the hand to pull him outside. Louis’ and Nick’s new house had a lovely backyard and even though the porch hadn’t been done yet it was nice to sit outside for a while nevertheless.

When the stumbled through the door they found Liam and Zayn sitting on some shaking chairs and walked over to join them.

“Here.” Zayn offered and got up from his chair to sit on Liam’s lap so Harry and Niall could share a chair as well. Harry let himself plop down first and wound his hands around Niall’s waist to pull him down.

“So, the party’s not all that bad, huh?” Harry asked Zayn. The older only rolled his eyes. Louis had been delighted to tell everyone at the party how much Zayn had complained about going earlier that day to him. He wasn’t really mad thought and it was a nice story to entertain the guests.

“It’s okay.” Zayn gave in after a while and Liam chuckled from behind him.

“The house is really nice.” Niall complimented, staring back at them house thoughtfully.

“Makes you wanna move in with _someone_ yourself, huh?” Zayn teased and Harry laughed as Niall blushed lightly.

“Maybe.”

“Awh, you sap!” Zayn scold again, but Harry was poking his sides, making him turn in his lap.

“I think it’s cute.” He ensured, pulling Niall in by his neck to press their lips together passionately.

“So romantic.” They heard Zayn scoff from behind them, but really they couldn’t care any less right now. And when they turned around again, Liam had turned Zayn around in his lap as well, keeping him quiet in his very own way.

“Look who’s talking.” Niall shot back with a smile that Zayn never got to see, only flipping the two off behind his back as he kept kissing.

“Might as well..” Harry trailed off, pulling Niall back down towards his own mouth as their two friend apparently were busy themselves as well. And it was nice, it could stay like this he thought as soft lips brushed against his own, capturing them in a slow and loving kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, I’m sorry but this is the last chapter. I know a lot of people wanted me to continue and some of you had some really great ideas on how to continue this, but unfortunately it doesn’t work for me. You could propbably tell from the way I stopped updating regularly, but I’ve had so many problems writing this story, so sorry.
> 
> I’m not saying I won’t ever make a sequel to this of whatever, but definitely not in the near future.
> 
> Instead maybe go check out some of my Oneshots? I’ll definitely write more of those now that I’m done with 911.
> 
> xx

**Author's Note:**

> It'd be absolutely lovely getting some feedback on this. I plan on continuing it, but I don't know yet how many chapteres. Let me know what you think, the more people like it, the longer I'll make it. Thanks. xx
> 
>  
> 
> Find me on tumblr!  
> http://hannahazza.tumblr.com/


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